The Potters and the Austfergan Gateway
by theblueanchor
Summary: A mysterious new teacher, life changing choices and advances in magical sciences: it can only be Albus Potter's second year at Hogwarts! This time, Albus struggles with new friendships and enemies whilst getting over the loss of his cousin. And again, he battles with an old villain who's bent on sabotaging a Ministry experiment: the Austfergan Gateway . . . Second story in series.
1. Prologue

_I do not own Harry Potter. All original characters, spells, magical objects and creatures, etc, belong to J. ._

It could have been lightning; flashing lights of an overhead aeroplane perhaps. The cloudy white light spiralled with incredible speed over the hills and streets of Scotland. Almost like a comet, the main body could be seen, followed by a thick trail in the sky. Then, suddenly, it descended, hurtling straight down into a small, urban town. It danced along rooftops and circled houses before it finally landed on the street.

The white cloud dispersed into the air, leaving the figure of a woman.

The woman walked through the suburban street, engulfed by dripping, bullets of rain. Children on bikes, hooded in black, crowded on the pavements, stopping to stare at the peculiar woman, in her tall black heels, emerald dress and fluffy black, fur coat as she continues to trot through the rain in the middle of the road. She holds a black umbrella over her head like a shield, with the firm grasp of her green gloved hand, which is probably not needed as the large, purple turban she wears would almost certainly shield her from the rain. What was more peculiar than her, trotting around like a royal in a glamorous dress on a suburban street in Scotland, was, perhaps, the weather. It was the first week of August and already the street was being attacked by bullets of rain, hard and cold on the slate roofed houses. Nevertheless, the woman in emerald was out on the street. Her and the children on bikes were maybe only people not to be crawled up inside by the TV, watching the Olympics in HD whilst gorging on hot curry with sticky, sausage like hands, too used to using cutlery and jaw muscles.

The _clip clop _of her heels stopped abruptly. And she turned to face the wooden door to house 21. She stretched out get finger and prods at the doorbell; it rung a sweet melody inside the house. Briefly, where was a soft rustling of footsteps before the door swung open to reveal an old woman with a strong, commanding, expression on her face, dresses in black robes with a tight cut on the torso and flowering fabric around her arms and legs. The woman smiled warmingly, "good evening, Professor. I invite you to come in." She gestured for the emerald woman to enter; so she did, closing the door behind her.

"I must say," the emerald lady gasped, "this house is divine." She was very right. The house was much bigger on the inside than outside would've suggested. Pearly white paint covered the walls of the large entrance hall with a gold leaf pattern; the floor and large, twisting staircase wear marble. Shiny black doors to mysterious rooms line the walls on both the upstairs and downstairs floors. It is incredibly bright. "I hope you don't mind." She folded her black umbrella and stood it up by the front door.

"Come this way, Madame; I'd hade you feet to drop off in a bloody mess in my nice, clean house." The elder lady beckoned as she pushed open a black door on the right. Both women entered.

The room they entered was just as outstanding and posh as the entrance hall, with the same marble floor and pearly white walls. In this room, there were several bookcase, full of multicoloured books, a couple of plump fabric sofas and a trolly, holding crystal goblets and spirits. "Will you be needing a drink?" The elder woman asked in her faint, accented voice, taking out a goblet to be ready for the emerald woman's order.

"I'm fine, I'd rather we got down to business . . . Sober." Was the reply, the emerald woman took a seat in one of the sofas and took off her black, fur coat. The design of her dress was more clear now, it was hundreds of intertwining serpents. Her turban also had a serpent sticking out at the front, glaring its long, forked tongue.

"Oh, I took you for more of a drink all day, drink all night, type of a person. I apologize." The woman poured herself a glass of gin and then sat opposite her guest.

"I also misjudged you: I took you for more of a sober all day, sober all night person . . . McGonagall."

McGonagall placed her goblet of gin on the table beside her after taking a sip. "So far, yes, I have been. However, since a recent tragedy at the school, including the son of a favourite student of mine, I have, to say, derailed slightly. I will, I hope, be able to gather my wits for the child's funeral next week. Being a family friend I shall be attending." McGonagall took another sip of gin. "So, what brings you here, Serpentina?"

The cool face of Madame Serpentina smiled, "I was sent to clear up some loose ends and gather as much information as I can, about being the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, at your school."

"Of course, Serpentina. I have looked over your application again recently, and I was rather impressed with your experience. I also believe that you worked as a gypsy fortune teller and gift maker at a circus for some time?"

Serpentina lay back in the sofa. The serpent on her turban cast an unusual shadow on her face. "McGonagall, I think we both know what your real question is, don't we? Yes, I did perform the Somnior Curse on Hugo Weasley in the summer of two thousand and ten."

"I must ask, why did you perform the curse?"

"The boy wanted to ensure that he'd have magical talent, I provided him with this. He was fully aware of the guidelines and rules. I had no part in his death," Serpentina looked away from McGonagall and at the bookcase.

_"He, he! He, _was a defenseless young boy. You tempted him with the one thing he wanted, and because you made the Unbreakable Vow with him, he saw no other option but to jump off a tower! How dare you say that you had nothing to do with his death!"

"If anyone, you should be blaming your own staff, Professor Trelawney for example . . ."

"And why should I?!" McGonagall snapped.

"Because prophecies only start to become a single bit dangerous when you start believing them. If Voldemort did not believe the prophecy, Harry Potter wouldn't have lost his parents. If you have such strong, negative, opinions, McGonagall, why did you hire me for the job at the school?" Serpentina challenged, leaning towards and raising a blade like eyebrow, questioningly.

"The choice was out of my hands. Kingsley suggested you and heavily insisted that you take the place. I am to guess that you know why this is?"

"I do indeed know why. But me and Kingsley have agreed not to say a word of it to a single being; you included. If I were to say, the Ministry would be locking me in an Azkaban cell, guarded by dementors and a nagging old lady, like yourself," she smirked.

"Another one of your twisted little Unbreakable Vows! You are an unpleasant snake aren't you. Nevertheless, it is my duty to inform you on your new role at the school." McGonagall explained the basic rules of being a teacher and the general flow of things, with the occasional witty remark which Serpentina chose to overlook. She continued the explanations. "You may come up with your own syllabus for years, which I will view and then, if I approve, will be issued to parents shortly before the new term with a list of appropriate reading materials. One last rule: do not make two way promises with students, it may give a boost to their confidences but I would hate to see another pupil being flattened into a bloody mess on my lovely courtyard. Is that all?"

By then, McGonagall and Serpentina had gulped down a whole bottle of gin between them and neither was the least bit nauseated or unbalanced.

"No." Serpentina replied bluntly. "I would like to know who I will be teaching."

McGonagall scowled, "Professor, Hogwarts does not pride itself on the names and popularity of students! You may get to know your students in class."

"I understand, McGonagall. I prefer to be called Madame . . ."

"And I prefer to be called Professor!"

"Petty little corrections? You're a lady, not a young child, aren't you?"

"I can tell already that we will not be getting on in September. Therefore, I must ask you to leave, unless you have anymore official business to talk through." McGonagall was deadly serious. Her eyes were dark and face was twisted into a threatening scowl.

Serpentina shook the bottle of gin to check for any stray droplets. None. "I believe I am done here. It's been a . . . Rather pleasant talk." With the last emotional slap taken, Serpentina strutted out the room. The door crashed shut and was accompanied by the_ clip clop _of black heels as Serpentina trotted away down the wet, cold street.


	2. The Funeral

_I do not own Harry Potter_.

Sweat inducing sunlight and oven high heat was a pleasant change to the horrific downpour from just a week ago. A sweet little park had been Auntie Hermione's choice of destination for the funeral of her son, and Albus' cousin, Hugo Weasley, just a long car drive away from the original Weasley's house, The Burrow. As Albus thought about it, it was just as well. Being trapped for hours on end in a stuffy church on a hot day like this with no air conditioning would be . . . Well, a living nightmare really. And a church close to The Burrow would just be an unpleasant reminder. Besides, it was nice to be in a large, open area, full of sunlight and grass and bushes and ponds for the funeral. Row after row of small, bamboo chairs lay in the view, surrounded by a thin layer of lush green, finely mown grass. A glittering pond was in front of the chairs: it was full of exotic, colourful fish and water features of cherubs spraying water out of their little stone mouths. There were berry bushes and trees around the outside.

The funeral itself was for a young wizard, Hugo Weasley. His death had occurred a little more than a month ago when he threw himself of a tower with a known Death Eater, at his school, Hogwarts. It wasn't quite a suicide. The reason he had jumped was a long and complicated one. Before he went to Hogwarts, he made an Unbreakable Vow with a gypsy witch which would ensure his magical ability. Unfortunately, the Vow made him promise that he would never have a friend, a promise he had broken. Therefore, his death wasn't much of a suicide, more of paying a debt. And he would have died from breaking the Vow anyway; and probably in a more horrifying, bloody and catastrophic way.

Albus had decided to have some time to himself, sitting in a chair at the front. The silver and black suit he wore was starting to stick to his chest in the heat, but it was worth it just to stew in his thoughts, undisturbed, just for a while whilst he could. The other option would've been to meet the family as they arrived, and the ever expanding amount of Potters and Weasleys and family friends would cause the meet and greet to last for centuries. Then, of course, he'd have to plaster on a smiling face and offer out, _how have you been? _and_ I'm so sorry for your loss_ and_ Hugo was a great guy_ and all that. Besides, he'd have lots of time to meet cousins in Hogwarts.

Speaking of Hogwarts, three more relatives were about to join Albus in September: Lily, his sister, and Roxanne and Fred, his cousins, George and Angelina's children. After that, Bill and Fleur's children, Dominique and Louis. Uncle Percy and Auntie Audrey's children, Lucy and Molly, were starting private education that year at _Professor Pansy's Higher Institute of Magical Studies_. It was a well known school, available only to highly known magicians, those who could afford the tuition fees and children with exceptional ability who could achieve a scholarship. It hadn't took Albus long to work out how Percy Weasley, highly paid Ministry worker, had got his children in.

Albus just spent some time in the sunlight, thinking of Hugo and the memories he'd had of him. Everything from him Hugo stealing his dummy as a child to their first time on a broomstick, then from him setting fire to a corridor in Hogwarts to day he died.

He then pulled a small black, leather notebook out of his blazer pocket. It was an idea his mother, Ginny had suggested. The notebook was a place Albus could write or draw anything he wanted to cope with his cousin's death. So far he'd written a song, draw pictures of the night on the tower (all of which were unrecognisable and scruffy), a couple of ideas and paragraphs on his feelings. And two days ago, he'd given into Ginny's pleads and had written a speech for the funeral. Albus wasn't that good at giving speeches, except for when it mattered, and for some reason, the funeral didn't seem like the right time. Nevertheless, Albus opened up the notebook, turned to the speech page and ran through the words in his head:

_Hugo, to me, was a great cousin and an even greater friend. I spent a long time with him, younger as a child. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to the same primary school as him, due to the distance between us, but we spent many weekends and holidays together. Hugo was always adventurous; he liked breaking rules and exploring. He was always good to be around and was funny and, as we all know, a bit geeky, (pause for laughs). The one thing I will miss most now that Hugo is gone . . ._

Albus couldn't bring himself to think, never mind say this . . .

_The one thing I will miss most now that Hugo is gone is that I will never again have such a protective and admirable friend . . . I'll miss him._

A single tear rolled down Albus' cheek and shattered into glittering fragments as it hit the pages on the notebook. In a way, no speech could express how deeply damaged he felt. But what worried Albus, was how little he seemed to know about Hugo. He hadn't been told about Serpentina and the Vow until the day he died. What else didn't he know? What secrets were still being kept from him?

It was then that the shambles that was Arthur Shaw bounced into the seat behind Albus. He, unlike Albus, was wearing a broad smile. "I've never been to a funeral," Arthur thought, "I buried a hedgehog in my garden once though. And my dad cremated a chicken once, but then again, mum shouldn't have left him in charge of the barbecue."

"Nice to see you again," Albus said, blankly.

"You too. I can see why it took so long to organise this funeral. It looks great," Arthur gasped.

"I know." Albus put his notebook back in his blazer pocket.

Arthur climbed over the chair in front of him and sat by Albus. "You see a little . . . distant, like you're thinking about something or are . . . I dunno, really sad?"

Albus continued to look ahead, where the speaking lectern was. "Both, I guess you could say." He mumbled.

"Same here. Of course I didn't know him as long as you did, but I was glad I got to know him," Arthur sighed. "What am I saying? I shouldn't have got to know him! If I hadn't known him he wouldn't be rotting in the ground like that hedgehog!"

"Arthur!" Arthur calmed down. "Don't start thinking like that. I'd rather he enjoyed his life rather than hate every waking minute of it."

"Yeah, of course. Sorry, Al."

Shortly after, the families and friends took their seats. Albus was on the same row as Hermione and Ron, Harry and Ginny, Molly and Arthur, Bill and Fleur, Dominique and Louis, George and Angelina, Fred and Roxanne, Percy and Audrey, Lucy and Molly, Charlie, James and finally Rose, who sat next to him. On the row behind were family friends, including Esther and Poppy, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Ted and Victoire. McGonagall, Flitwick, Slughorn and the Thomas and Finnigan families.

Auntie Hermione stepped forward from her seat and stood by the marble, owl shaped lectern. The owl fluttered its wings outwards so Hermione could place the tattered pages of her speech in it. She coughed and wiped her eyes. Silence.

"Hugo," she began, "was an excellent child. He wasn't the most out going, confident or, dare I say it, normal child. But in what he lacked, he gained in other skills. He was smart, talented, kind and head strong. Being his mother, I got to know Hugo very well. But again, being his mother, I never got to know him, in a way, as well as his friends. If I were twelve I know that Hugo would've been my friend. I remember one time when we went to the theatre, in London, to see The Lion King. Hugo, being himself, enjoyed the show, but kept asking ridiculous questions like, _why would lions team with hyenas? _ and _why would lions roar if they can speak? _I said to him, "Because they're telling you to shut up and watch the show!"" There were laughs from the audience. "I must also say that the person I feel most sorry for is my daughter, Rose. I've lost friends before, and also my parents, you could say, bet never someone as close as a brother . . ."

Rose began to cry. Albus tried to comfort her by handing her a hanky and patting her back but it didn't work. Eventually, Albus took her to sit next to Ron.

The funeral continued with speeches from Harry and Ron, both with teary eyes and jokes about Hugo as a child. Even McGonagall spoke at one point, likening Hugo to his parents as children and expressing how sorry she was for their loss. Albus cried throughout, (but not as must as Rose), and kept his sorrow to himself to avoid making a scene. What was most saddening was Molly and Arthur's speech. It was not as light hearted as the others and spoke a lot about how much they would miss getting to know their grandson.

"Every day, I am sure, I will miss my grandson: a young and talented boy. I feel the same sorrow as when I lost my own son, Fred," Molly was saying. "I can't begin to feel the pain my friend and daughter in law, Hermione, must feel."

"To no longer see Hugo is a great misfortune," Arthur continued. "Since he was born, we longed to see Hugo transform into a man. To see him win school competitions, get married, find a job, get a girlfriend, and maybe even have children of his own one day." Arthur held Molly to his chest as she began to weep. "Our greatest sympathies to Hugo's closer family," was the left thing Arthur said before he and Molly took their seats again.

It was Albus' turn. After him, only Rose and Arthur would be left. Rose gave Albus a friendly hug out of his seat. Albus stood in front of his seat; the obedient eyes of everyone were focused on him like the preying eyes of eagles. He felt a lot sweatier than earlier, it was like he'd been drenched in water. His head spun with dizziness and his legs felt stiff, rigid and heavy. With slow clumsy steps, Albus staggered up to the lectern, where he set his notebook on the wings of the owl shaped lectern. Looking down on the crowd, every face was looking up at him. Albus leaned on the lectern to stop himself from collapsing from the pressure. His sweaty fingers felt like they were magnetized to the lectern, and completely immovable.

Albus sucked in the air around him and gathered just enough confidence to begin. "Hugo, to me, was a great cousin and an even greater friend." Albus stammered, hearing his mocking voice inside his head, laughing at his fragile state. "I . . . I spent a long time with him, younger as a child. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to the same primary school as him, due to the distance between us, but we . . . we spent many weekends and holidays together. Hugo was always . . . Hugo was always . . ."

Albus blanked. Each word was clearly written before him, but stuck like glue on Albus' tongue. He just couldn't bring himself to say it. It couldn't to Albus' true feelings any justice anyway; how he really felt inside. The words were just useless and stuck in his mouth! Perhaps this was his chance to tell the truth.

"When you're a kid, you're parents protect you. They hold you in their arms and tell you everything will be okay and that there are no such things as monsters. You get wrapped in lies so you can't see the world as it is. But there are such things as monsters and lies can't cure the truth. Hugo always knew that. He was unlucky, he was thrown into the darkness with no turning back, and from there on his life had ended. But that wasn't entirely the end. Hugo was brave, and Hugo was resistant. He never let the darkness win and he repelled everything that fought against him to the point where he could laugh in its face. A bad choice was made by him at a young age and he fell into darkness. Then a better choice was made. He chose to resist what kept him from enjoying life, and that's not when he died, that's when he started to live! He made friends. He was popular. Hugo lived a better life as long as he could until he was swallowed by the darkness. I'm not afraid to say that his death was a gift. By choosing it die, he chose to enjoy life more than he ever had done! I was honoured to know him. Such a brave and talented person. We are in a world of danger and monsters and lies . . . But that doesn't mean we can't learn to enjoy life . . ."

Albus could've sworn that there were fireworks and cannon shots. The shear noise of the applause was enough for anyone to think that. Everyone there was clapping and smiling and standing in applause. Rose had even stopped crying to applaud Albus' speech. Albus looked to see his father, Harry, wink at him. It made that sweating and stammering worth it.

When Albus get back in his seat, the speeches continued, but with an obvious lack of applause and some references to Albus' speech: his speech had obviously had a large impact. Even after the speeches, a few, maybe several times more than a few, people came to congratulate Albus in person.

It was then the time for Hugo to be buried. Every person there had donated to make a collective fund to buy Hugo's tombstone. The tombstone was unusual; shaped like an outstretched hand, cast in marble. Hugo's name and date of birth and death were written across the fingertips. An outstretched hand was meant to represent that Hugo was never able to reach what he wanted in life as he'd died at such a young age. It must have been a metre in height.

Lying beneath the marble hand was the grave. Dug into the earth with around two metres in length, one in width and one and a half in depth. This was where Hugo was due to be buried.

The crowd gathered around the grave and silenced themselves for the ceremony. Once perfect silence was achieved, Harry, Ron, Grandad Arthur and George carried the black coffin to the side of the grave on their shoulders. They lay the coffin on the ground, took out their wands, and lowered the coffin into the grave with the simple charm that Albus had learnt in his first year at Hogwarts: _Wingardium Leviosa_. They then covered the coffin in mud with what was an unknown charm to Albus; encasing Hugo's body, forever, in the soil . . .

_Thank you for reading! Please review :-) _


	3. A New Alliance

_I do not own Harry Potter._

It was the vivid swish of deep orange locks of hair that brought Albus to his senses. The funeral was still continuing on that hot summer day with strangely coloured drinks, intriguing nibbles and light, background music. All in Hugo's honour. Albus had taken the situation to his advantage and was able to smile and bob around in a dancing way whilst thinking to himself. That way, Dominique, Louis, Rose and Fred wouldn't be aware that he couldn't care less about who had taken a job at Hogwarts. But the orange swish of hair amongst the trees and bushes surrounding the park had knocked him back into the world.

"Al! Al, what you lookin' at?" Fred asked, clicking his fingers in front of Albus' eyes.

"Um? . . . Sorry, I was watching a hot air balloon," Albus lied, not wanting to let his ginger haired cousin, Fred II, to know he was seeing a mysterious ginger headed person watching them.

"Really, where?" Fred wondered, looking in the general direction Albus had been, just above the trees.

"I can't see anything either," Dominique added. Even though she was a couple of years younger than Albus, Dominique was remarkable beautiful, with her flowing blonde hair, bright blue eyes, pale white skin and mesmerizing red lips. Her French tinted accent was as beautiful.

"Yeah, it's behind the trees now." Another lie from Albus.

Whilst the others continued to search for the imaginary balloon, Rose's view was fixed on Albus. "You're lying; I know when you lie."

Albus gasped dramatically, "I am not lying! . . . How do you know I'm lying?"

"Your left foot starts tapping," a voice from behind Albus answered.

It was Arthur, here with Rose and Esther, holding eight bizarrely coloured drinks. The drinks were handed out (Albus got an apple green one), then the three sat down on the grass around the other's chairs. Esther sat opposite Albus, by Rose's chair. Albus hadn't seen Esther since Hogwarts ended, except a glance from a distance earlier that day, and was glad to see her again. Now being boyfriend and girlfriend, they'd tried to keep in contact over the phone, but it wasn't as good as face to face contact and they'd eventually given up. She still had her outstanding looks, just like her identical sister, Poppy, but she had always been recognizable to Albus, somehow.

"I do not tap my foot when I lie!" Albus cried.

"You so do!" Esther laughed, "Even when we talk on the phone I can hear your foot tap when you claim you have a six pack and have got into a rugby squad!"

"Yeah, boys always play the rugby squad card when trying to get girls," Dominique giggled, taking a sip of her baby pink drink.

"How come you call her but never me, I'm your favourite cousin?" Louis said, making a puppy dog face. Louis had many similar facial aspects to his sister, and was known for his comical personality.

"Because they're in love!" Poppy smiled. Esther buried her head in her hands with embarrassment.

"Wow . . . I never expected to hear the words Albus and love, in the same sentence!" Louis joked.

"Do you wish _really _hard?" Fred continued to joke. Arthur spat out his orange drink into Louis' face in laughter.

"No! Besides, the best you could wish for is a pig in lipstick and a leotard!" Albus replied. A loud _oh! _filled the group. Fred sunk into his seat. Again, the ginger swish of hair wandered through the trees caught Albus' attention.

"Why do you keep looking into the trees, Albus?" Esther asked.

"No reason . . ." Albus lied.

"It's not the trees; he's looking at you, baby!" Louis laughed.

"I definitely saw his foot tap that time!"

Rose raised an eyebrow at Albus, seeing straight through him. "So are you gonna tell me what you're looking at?" she sipped her gold drink.

"I wasn't looking at anything," Albus replied cooly.

"Has anyone seen Roxanne?" Esther asked, quickly changing the topic.

"Yeah," Fred replied, "she's talking with Teddy and Victoire. They're leaving soon for France. Victoire's doing a fashion course and Teddy's just tagging along really."

"Just clearing things up: Victoire is your cousin and Teddy's her boyfriend?" Esther wondered.

"Spot on," Fred answered.

Albus found himself drifting out of the conversation again, just like earlier. He was eager to find out what the orange swishes were, but Rose and the others would obviously follow him: something he didn't want. All he needed was a good excuse to go, an excuse that meant no one would follow him. "Is there a toilet here?" Albus blurted out, disrupting a conversion about using dragon skin in underwear.

"Nice way to kill the mood." Arthur said with a deep sip of his drink.

"Just go in the trees over there," Fred answered, casually.

"The trees?" Albus thought, "What about girls?"

"Dunno. Girls never seem to have to go, and when they do, there's always a massive queue."

"Mm," Albus grunted in agreement before making his way towards the trees.

When he got to where the orange swish had come from, his group of friends could fit between his fingers. There were bushes between him and his friends, and then a forest of trees. He just strolled around for a moment looking for the source of the orange: he couldn't see anything. Eventually, he found himself tapping out rhythms on dried bits of twigs and leaves. That's when he looked up and saw a familiar figure standing in front of him.

He was the size as Albus, with maybe a bit of height added on with his tall, ginger hair. Albus clearly recognized him, from Hogwarts of course. He was probably the most popular boy in the year. Ben Applewhite.

"Hi, Ben, isn't it?" Albus asked, knowing the answer already but wanting to seem polite.

Ben giggled. "Your cousin said that too, Hugo. Did he mention I knew him?"

"You knew Hugo?" Albus wondered, still uncertain of why, and how long, he was there.

"Yep! But not very long. His foot got stuck, I intimidated him and he was confused . . . I felt we had a special something." Ben smiled, not moving from his position, centimetres away from Albus.

"What? No! Why are you here?" Albus shouted, the situation was confusing and distressing him.

"Ok then, we'll stop with the small talk. I'm here to mess with that tiny little head of yours," He continued to grin, now it was riddled with a look of sinister glee.

"Sorry? I don't understand."

"Fine, I'll do the same explanation I explained with your cousin," he sighed, before vomiting out the sentence: " it's not about being popular it's watching everything as it happens and being able the manipulate everything I am a puppet master bungle fungle monkey in a jungle . . . Sorry, I drifted off towards the end. It's hard to remember when I do it a lot," his grin was drained after his fast, complicated speech.

"You are bloody mental!"

"My pleasure!"

"I don't get it, why are you so popular if you are so weird?"

"Because I'm cool, usual. But sometimes, not often, something important and odd goes on and I'm always there to help out. It's odd and complicated."

"That sounds about right, I don't understand a single thing that you're going on about."

"You wouldn't, I don't either."

"So, tell me, really, why are you here, at Hugo's funeral of all places?"

Ben sat on a lower branch of a tree that bobbed around a bit. "To help you, and in doing so, confuse you. I find that I know about things before they happen, and can sense what's going to happen. This is a time when I don't know what's going to happen, but I know it involves you and a magazine."

"You know about things before they happen? What, like prophecies?"

"No, it's a lot less . . . Mystic, and obvious. I've had it the whole of my life; it helps."

"Ok? What magazine? Who's magazine?"

"Your sister's, Lily . . ."

"Wait a moment! You expect me to believe that you can tell the future and it has something to do with one of my sister's magazines? You really are mad!"

"Yes, I do expect you to believe that . . ."

"I watched as my cousin jumped off a tower with a Death Eater; but this is really what is sick! Stop messing with my head!"

"I told you I would . . ."

"Shut up! This is Hugo's funeral so kindly sod off!" Albus screamed, shaking and turning red with anger.

"Fine. Just keep a look out." With that, Ben disappeared into the trees.

Albus tidied his hair and fabricated a story that would explain why he took so long. Probably something involving a squirrel stealing his stuff. When he got closer to the group he could distinctly hear rushed mutters and hushed whispers: something was wrong. It was almost certainly about a person, the extra person Albus could see that had disturbed the group. _He won't be happy, go before he sees you, stop ruining the day, another day, any day but today_.

Then Albus saw. The olive hair, the uncertain smile, the deep blue eyes. It was Barney White.

It all surged through Albus: Hugo's death, Ben Applewhite, his betrayal to Barney, then how Barney had betrayed him in return with the help of Scorpius Malfoy. All the anger and confusion flooded his bloody in a raging ball of hatred, anger, regret and confusion. Then, with a fierce swing . . . _Thud! _Albus punched Barney, hard in the nose, knocking him to on his back.

"Damn it! Sorry!" Albus apologized, pulling Barney back onto his feet; remembering how they had made up at the end of last year.

Barney's nose looked crooked like a door handle, but, luckily, wasn't too obvious. What was obvious, was the trickle of ruby red blood that ran down to his lip. "Don't worry," Barney insisted, wiping the blood off his face with his sleeve. "Really, it didn't hurt too much . . ."

Rose jabbed Barney's nose. He screamed in pain. "Stop lying, it does hurt doesn't it? I'll get Luna; she's good at healing charms."

"Ouch! That looks nasty!" Dominique gasped.

"I never knew you could punch," Fred laughed.

"Albus?" Barney asked.

"Yes?" Albus replied, helping Barney wipe the blood off his face.

"I wanted to sorry about what happened last year. I don't think I got to say that properly . . ."

"Don't apologise. I was a lousy friend, I deserved what happened."

"No you didn't. Yeah, you were rubbish at the start of the year, but what I did, snitching on you to The Prophet, you didn't deserve that."

"But I left you alone and got new friends. You didn't deserve that either."

"Then can we forget about last year? Everything each of us did and start again. Try to be friends again?" Barney stretched out his hand to Albus.

Albus looked down at the hand. It didn't take long to react. He shook the hand. "Friends."

_Thank you for reading! Remember to review. For new readers or people who have forgotten, you can read about Hugo's encounter with Ben in The Puppet Master, from The Potters and the Servant's Return. :-) _


	4. The Book List

_I do not own Harry Potter._

"95."

"96."

"97."

"98."

"99."

_Smash! _The snitch that Albus and Fred II had been throwing between them bounced off Fred's fingers and collided with a rose filled vase, shattering the glass and scattering the water and roses over the table it had sat on. Fred's eyes widened as he froze with shock.

"Damn it, Fred! Molly will go mental when she sees that!" Albus cried. He and his younger cousins were staying at The Burrow (as usual) for a couple of weeks before school started again. Already, Molly had made three specific rules crystal clear: 1) No disapparating within the house, 2) No pets without express permission and a signed contract of animal specific rules, 3) Do not break anything. Even when Louis snapped a pencil, Molly went berserk and kicked a garden gnome in the balls.

"It's not my fault; you threw the snitch! Molly won't see it anyway; we can mend it, can't we?" Fred panicked.

"Molly won't see what?" Rose asked as she wandered into the room. She gasped to see the broken rose vase. "Merlin's beard! You just . . ."

"_Ssh!_"

"But you broke the . . ."

"_Ssh!_"

"Just look at the . . ."

"_Ssh!_"

"Molly will freak out!" Rose gasped.

"I know: that's why we're _Ssh!_ing you!" Fred whispered. "I don't know any magic, can you fix it?"

Rose's face paled, "Hugo would know how to fix it . . ."

"I know, Rose, but he's not here to help. Can't you do reparo or something?" Fred pleaded.

"I can only just repair the glass and Molly will notice the water even if we mop most of it up."

"What was that spell that Hugo always did? You know; the one when he repaired that glass full of sweets?" Albus wondered.

"Sorry, I can't remember. How did it happen anyway?" Rose asked.

"Someone stopped us from reaching a hundred catches." Albus answered, glaring at Fred accusingly. Fred stuck his tongue out at him.

"Boys!" Rose gasped. "You're like bulls to a red flag when there's mention of competition . . ."

"That's it! Red . . . Redintegro!" Albus realised. "I'll try first . . . _Redintegro!_" Just like he'd hoped, the glass vase repaired itself and sat on the table top. The roses and water, however, remained on the floor. "What about the roses?"

"I've got it!" Rose announced. She pointed her wand at the mess on the floor: "_Hincilluc mess!_" The roses jumped up into the vase, followed by the water. "There, it looks fine now."

"Well done, Team!" Fred smiled.

_Snap! _Albus, Rose and Fred fell down onto the sofas, trying to look less inconspicuous. It was Harry, Albus' dad, who had apparated into the room, and having seen the blur of the others fall into seats, he could tell something was up. Albus could see it in his puzzled expression.

"What's going on?" Harry asked. Fred shivered when his gaze moved towards the vase.

"Nothing!" The all answered, immediately.

"We're just . . . Playing music chairs," Fred answered in a panic.

"But there are enough seats in the room for nine: there are three of you," Harry questioned.

"I know," Albus began, "that's why we're all winning."

"But? . . . Oh, who cares? I've got good news!" Harry smiled, rubbing his hands in excitement. "Because you're all getting you're list of school equipment later today, we decided we'd all go to Diagon Alley tomorrow!"

"Yes!" Albus, Fred and Rose cried.

"But that's not all! Because of recent, unfortunate, events, all your parents have agreed that you and all your cousin will receive a pet each!"

Yes! Albus had always wanted a pet, something fluffy and small to pet and play with. But what kind? A rat? A cat or toad? An owl? An owl had always seemed desirable to him. The way they were always obedient and mysterious intrigued him. Yes, an owl would be good. But what kind? What name? That could all be decided at Diagon Alley.

"Yes!" They cried, again.

"I am so getting a cat!" Rose announced.

"A cat? Cats are boring, not to mention their claws and red eyes. I'm getting a boggart!" Fred decided.

"Well, whatever you're getting, we're, leaving tomorrow morning via the Floo Network! I'll see you at tea. And bring money for anything else you want!" Harry smiled and left the room.

Albus slept better that night, after taking a long bath and finishing a plate of roast chicken and Yorkshire puddings. Usually he had nightmares about Ben, ever since their unusual encounter at the funeral. But as he was always awake when he had the dreams, which were more like visualized thoughts, Albus had decided to call them, _Thoughtmares_, even if the title wasn't as catchy as he'd hoped.

After rolling in bed for two hours before dawn, awake in excitement, Albus took a shower, brushed his teeth, get dressed, shoved a pile of coins into his pockets and headed downstairs for breakfast. Rose and James were already dressed and were enjoying eggs and soldiers. All the other cousins were still in pyjamas, looking shabby and tired. The adults were still in bed, apart from Molly who was making the breakfast.

"Morning, Al!" Molly smiled as she ushered Albus into a seat, "There you go, sit down! Wait one moment; I'll bring your breakfast through now." Molly skipped back into the kitchen.

"Hi," Albus' cousins grunted in unison.

"Hi," he replied.

"So, what are you getting?" Roxanne asked.

"An owl probably. You?"

"I dunno. I'm not a fan of cats, owls are too normal and a toad would be sticky and weird."

"You should get a boggart, like me," Fred, Roxanne's brother, said. "Then, it could be anything you want."

"Yeah, but boggarts look like the thing you're most scared of! Why would I want one of them?" Roxanne asked.

"You can get tame ones as pets, my friend, Poppy, has one," Albus answered.

"Oh, right. Was she the one with brown curly hair from the funeral?"

"Yeah."

"Here we go! Just how you like it!" Molly arrived from the kitchen and placed Albus' breakfast before him. It was a slice of toast, with two rashers of bacon, mushrooms and half a fried tomato.

"Looks nice," Albus smiled, then immediately started biting away at it. Molly grinned in that _I knew you'd like it _way, and went back into the kitchen to prepare the others' breakfast.

"Morning!" Hermione smiled, waltzing into the room. "I hope you're all looking forward to going to Diagon Alley!"

"Hello, Hermione! Here's your breakfast," said Molly, pushing a plate of sliced fruit and seeded bread into Hermione's hand.

"Aaah, you shouldn't have Mrs Weasley!"

"Don't be modest! Everyone in my family will get a decent breakfast, so gobble it up!" she laughed.

"Thank you! Do you mind if I take Ron's too: we're having breakfast in bed."

"Of course, here you go." Molly passed Hermione a plate covered with beans and sausages and bacon and sauces. "Make sure your hands don't slip off from all that fat."

Hermione laughed and made her way the stairs. "And remember kids," she called, "be ready by ten, the school lists will be here at nine!"

#####

The family was sat around the dining room table, all apart from Percy's wife and children who were spending a week in Venice. Harry, Ron and George each held a Hogwarts sealed letter in their hands, wandering how they would afford the inevitably deer books that would be named inside. Angelina got bored of waiting first, and tugged the letter out of George's hand.

She slit it open with get nail and folded out the letter. She read:

"_Hello, First Year Student. I, Professor Minerva McGonagall, and my staff, would like to extend a warm welcome to you and wish you an excellent beginning to life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In this school we strive, not only to become better magicians, but better people. We hope you will not only enjoy school life, but learn vital lessons of friendship, courage, judgement and kindness. Due to teachers having to cope with nearly 700 students, two teachers have been employed for each subject. Below are the Year 7 specific details on teachers and books._

_Astronomy: Professor Sinistra_

_Charms: Professor F Flitwick_

_Care of Magical Creatures: Professor L Lovegood_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: Professor N McNeice_

_Herbology: Professor R Scamander_

_History of Magic: Professor Binns_

_Potions: Professor R Rabbitheart_

_Transfiguration: Professor M McGonagall_

_Here is more information, concerning staff:_

_Headmistress: Professor M McGonagall_

_Deputy Head: Professor F Flitwick_

_Head of Gryffindor: Professor N Longbottom_

_Head of Hufflepuff: Professor R Scamander_

_Head of Ravenclaw: Professor F Flitwick_

_Head of Slytherin: Professor H Slughorn_

_The following books are needed for the school year . . ."_

George lent over Angelina's shoulder. "Doesn't look too expensive."

"I suppose so . . . Look at all those new teachers! What about you Harry?" Angelina asked.

Harry opened the Hogwarts sealed letter. "Well, there's this big rant on making a fresh start, a book list that me and Ginny can sort out . . . Here we are!" Harry grinned at his children, "You have Professor Redgrave for Astronomy, Professor Flitwick for Charms and Hagrid for Magical Creatures. There's Professor Sprout for Herbology, Binns for History of Magic, Slughorn, McGonagall and . . ."

Harry stopped mid sentence. His mouth dried as it hung open like a Venus Fly Trap. Even Ginny's eyes widened when she saw what Harry was looking at.

"What's wrong, Dad?" James asked, beginning to pale.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts . . . Professor Serpentina . . ."

_Thank you for reading! Please please review!_


	5. Diagon Alley

_I do not own Harry Potter._

A flash of ferocious flames engulfed Ron and swallowed him up, leaving only air in the old, stone fireplace. It was time to go to Diagon Alley to collect the year's worth of books and supplies. As usual, Albus and his family were travelling there using the Floo Network. Albus had used the Floo Network many times, having been born into a magical family, and was used to the basic rules of clearly announcing where he wanted to go and trying not to vomit on the way. He wasn't as scared of the flames as he'd used to be; now, he thought the warm tingling sensation was quite shooting soothing.

"Rose, you next!" Molly announced, gently pushing Albus' cousin into the fireplace.

Rose shuffled on the spot as she tucked her rattling purse into her coat pocket and reminded herself that the emerald fire wasn't going to hurt her. "Diagon Alley!" she shouted, throwing a fist full of a glittering, silvery powder onto the floor. Almost immediately, the flames burned brightly and she disappeared into them.

"So, that's been Hermione, Ginny, Roxanne, Fred, George, Louis, Ronald . . . Albus, off you go!" Molly decided.

Albus was ushered into the fireplace by his Grandmother's large, warm hands. He took a fist full of Floo Powder from a pot beside him. He gulped to prepare himself. "Diagon Alley!" he cried; throwing the powder to his feet . . .

Suddenly, a growing surge of warmth erupted around Albus and shot a wave of heat from Albus' feet to his head. The force and pressure around him pursed his eyes shut so that all he could see was the blinding memory of the burning emeralds flash. Wind whipped Albus' hair into his face and the constant sucking sounds deafened him.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, everything stopped: no emerald light, no sucking, no surge of warmth. All Albus could hear was the pounds of steps and chatter of talking. All Albus could feel was a gentle, cool breeze. All Albus could smell was fried fast food and best bizarre, foreign aromas. All Albus could see was the busy, crowded, ever moving sight of Diagon Alley!

Diagon Alley was a long, slightly askew, streets, painted brown with the bricks the buildings were made of. Multicoloured hats and heads and bodies were constantly moving and changing directions, like water, over the cobbled streets. Albus had come out of a fireplace in a wall by the side of a shop full of gems and jewellery. There were bookshops, pet shops, sweet shops, cloth shops, gypsy stalls, dark alleys, a crooked bank and a large, colourful joke shop.

Within the next five minutes, Fleur, Bill, Lily, James and Angelina arrived, completing the group. The group decided to start at _Flourish and Blotts._

The wizarding bookshop had two floors, and on both, was stacked full with books of all shapes, colours and styles. Each stack of books was piled awkwardly, like tall, thin mountains, and had a strong old bookly smell. The shop was dimly lit, to create an overall rustic feeling. It didn't take long for the parents to collect the books whilst the kids scanned books for the funniest innuendos, swears our pictures. The best were a picture of a pig resembling Slughorn and the sentence from a carpentry book: _to be inserted with care and force_, which caused Lily to laugh a lot, despite not understanding the joke.

Next stop: _Madame Malkin's Robe Shop_. Once at a time, the children stood on a wooden platform whilst Madame Malkin and her pale, ghostly assistant poked and prodded as they took the measurements they needed. Albus felt particularly uncomfortable when it was his turn: he was never sure where to look and the ghostly woman's instructions to raise his arms or suck his stomach in were to quiet or muffled to hear. It was when the ghostly woman prodded Albus in the spine that he finally snapped, barking at her, "Oi! Where are you sticking that?" The woman replied in a quiet, distant voice, threatening to accuse him of harassment. It was Hermione's quick decision that led them out the door, quickly, and onto the next stop.

The family bought cauldrons from _Potage's Cauldron Shop_, quills and parchment from _Scribbulus Writing Implements_, herbs and potion ingredients from the _Apothecary_, a range of strange magical tools from_ Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment_ and crystal balls and fortune cards for James at _All Seeing Betty's _because he had chosen to take Divination and Arithmancy for his new subjects.

"Ok then, kids, we've got all your boring school stuff, how about we go to_ Weasley Wizard Wheezes_!" Ginny announced, with her hands full of crystal balls and jars of eyeballs, much like the other adults, whilst the children licked ice creams from _Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour_.

"Sure!" They replied.

"Wait a moment; I can't handle anymore of your rubbish!" George argued, balancing a pile of books on his nose like a sea lion. "And I'm not having Louis in my shop, not after what happened at Fortescue's!"

"It wasn't my fault," Louis said, taking a lick of rhubarb and frog spawn ice cream, "that cat was trying to rip my face off!"

"I know, but you didn't have to throw it in the strawberry sorbet! Your lucky we'd already paid."

"Anyway, I think you should go to your joke shop, then Ollivander's, then_ Magical Menagerie _to get some pets! I doubt they'll be cats in anymore shops . . . Well, not the joke shop at least." Hermione summarised.

"Why do we need to go to Ollivander's?" Ron asked.

"My friend, Maggie Humphrey, she works in the Wand Department at the Ministry. She says that wands should be checked often. I'm not too sure about the science, but it's something to do with wands reacting to their owners changing personalities," she replied.

"So we're all getting new wands?" Albus asked.

"That depends on what your parents and Ollivander think!"

Albus was impressed by_ Weasley Wizard Wheezes_, even before he entered. The giant mechanical puppet of Fred I was entertaining and glittered with sunlight as it lifted its hat and put it back on. Things then got even better when he entered! The shop glowed with purple and orange lights, and was continuously lit up by exploding fireworks and sparks and powders. The walls were lined with boxed sweets and toys: boxes of jokes were piled on top of each other in teetering towers, glass bowls of dragon toasted popcorn and nuts, vials of bizarre potions and pools of glittering powders.

"Wow!" Albus gasped.

"Alright Munchkins!" George began, "try not to break anything and everyone gets a two percent discount!"

"Two percent?" Roxanne asked.

"I know . . . That's too much isn't it? Two percent of potions!" George decided.

Albus knew George was joking, so he just shrugged and giggled it off. He spent some time looking at the vials of potions: _Love Bites, Gertrude's Good Luck, My Disappearing Daydreams, Mood Swing Magic _. . . And a whole range of other swirling, colourful potions that caused love to weightless, despair to disappearance, mood swings to transformations and joy to good luck.

"Come and look at this!" Rose called. She was pointing to a small dragon that was popping popcorn in a glass box. "That's so cool!"

Albus joined Fred II and Roxanne upstairs; they were looking at train sets, the drivers and passengers would transform into animals when they went through tunnels. There were also moving pottery animals with swappable heads and tiny mechanical people with suspiciously exploding stomachs.

"Watch this!" Fred said, pulling Albus and Roxanne over to a stand, on which, was a wooden statue of Voldemort and Harry Potter. "Three, two, one . . ."

_Bang! _The wooden Harry moved closer to Voldemort and pointed his wand out. That was when Voldemort's head exploded, covering Albus, Fred and Roxanne with red goo

"Well, that wasn't in the product description . . ."

In the end, Albus bought some dragon cooked walnuts, a head swapping squirrel and a box of fever fudge. Fred also bought the exploding Voldemort, and Rose, a disappearing potion.

The family then arrived at Ollivander's. They shop was brown and dusty, as it had always been. A bell rang like a chirping bird, as Angelina pushed the door to enter. Every wall in the shop was stacked with wobbling, unorganised towers of long, thin boxes, each with a hand written label on it. There must have been at least a thousand wand boxes! There was a pattering of footsteps before a young, scruffy, tall man appeared from the stairs and stood behind the counter.

The man must have been about twenty; his head was constantly knocking against the roof, making his brown, dusty hair even scruffier. His splinter ridden apron hung loosely on his thin body, and his skinny fingers were red and numb from crafting wands. The red blush in his cheeks and bulging, upward pointing nose gave him a permanently perky expression. Albus knew this man to be Roderick Ollivander. He was the son of Ollivander, and just before he Ollivander died of old age (which was headline news at the time), he was taught about wands and how to run the shop. After Ollivander passed away, Roderick was named Ollivander Jr. as a sign of remembrance and respect.

"Hello, loyal Ollivander's customer! Welcome to our shop, established in . . . long ago, home of quality, freshly made wands at an appropriate price! What, my friend, may I do for you today?" The man said, almost militantly.

Hermione fought her way through the family, to the counter, in the squashed room of the shop. "Some of us are here to get new wands."

"Ah, yes, how many people are wanting new wands?" Ollivander Jr. asked.

"I don't believe all this wand law tom foolery," Ron announced, "me and Rose are fine with what we have!" Hermione looked like she was about to protest for the sake of her daughter, but chose not to.

"We need wands for Roxanne and Fred," George said.

"I think we'll just test ours and work on that," Ginny decided.

"Ok, that'll be three wands and four to be tested!" Hermione summarised.

"That would be fine, madam. Can I have the tested ones first?" Ollivander began.

Harry pushed Albus forwards. Albus passed his wand to Ollivander; he measured and inspected it before he announced: "nine inch, elm, phoenix feather . . . Mr. Potter, isn't it?"

Albus nodded, shyly.

"This wand, I believe, was once in alliance, but now, I think it has changed. I think, recently, your personality has changed and you have proved yourself of courage and loyalty. Yes, Mr. Potter, you will be needing a new wand!"

Ollivander Jr. snapped the wand and through it over his head, landing it in the bin. He rummaged around under the counter before pulling out a long purple box and handed the wand inside to Albus. "Fifteen inch, flexible, willow with a veela hair core!" He had snapped it back out of Albus' grasp before he could even start trying it out.

Ollivander rushed upstairs to find even more wands: boxes spun and crashed down the stairs as he through them away, search for the right wand. Finally he came back down the stairs with the boxes in hand; one red, one blue, one black. He took the red wand out of its box first and measured it against Albus' face. "It doesn't match your nose!" Ollivander announced, "and the ears are completely different!" He threw the wand away. Next, the blue boxed wand. Albus was finally able to try out a wand, but it only ended in a stack of wand boxes collapsing. That wand was the next victim of the wand.

Ollivander opened the black box and revealed the wand inside. It was jet black, like Albus' hair, and had intricate details engraved. The wand, in light, could be seen having red and green markings on it, perhaps entwined in the wood itself. The shop keeper grinned as he handed Albus the wand. "Cast a spell, Mr. Potter," he urged.

Albus took the wand and waved it in the air. Suddenly, the room was filled with a deep orange light; wind rushed through Albus' hair like ice cold knives and he felt an overwhelming warmth and comfort writhing in his body. "What was that?" Albus gasped.

"That was your new wand!" Ollivander replied, "medium springy, eleven inch, rowan wood . . . And, what is odd, Mr Potter, is the core: Chimaera scale! I have never, not even my father, seen the Chimaera scale wand yield to a wizard. Monks and monarchs and rich and wise have all tried to claim the wand, but not one has even succeeded until now. Father would have been pleased to see this."

Albus turned around: everyone was looking at him. They all had the same expression; a mix between envy, curiosity, wonder and the want to protect the liquid gold they had found. He just wasn't sure what to do next, it was lucky that his mother noticed and intervened . . .

"So what about my wand?" Ginny asked.

#####

The Potters and Weasleys wandered through the cage filled aisles of the wizarding pet shop: _Magical Menagerie_. There were owls in cages, lizards in incubators, tropical fish in tanks, cats and dogs in baskets.

"What are you getting?" Albus asked Rose.

"Oh, um, a cat probably," Rose answered nervously.

Ever since Ollivander's, no one was quite sure how to act around Albus. Only his closest family members knew not to make a big fuss of it.

"I'm thinking of getting an owl," Albus decided. He noticed a tawny owl, just by the snake display. It had brown feathers, with hints of black and white, and dazzling green eyes. It stared at Albus, as he stared at it. "I like this one!"

Rose went over to Albus to see what he was looking at. "She is nice, isn't she?"

"She?!" Albus cried. Rose tapped on the information label below its cage, clearly stating it to be a girl. "Oh . . ."

"Look at this guy!" Rose insisted, yanking Albus by the arm to a cat she'd just noticed. It was a small, scruffy, black cat. Its eyes were yellow and continuously licked its paws.

"So what, its just a cat?" Albus sighed.

Rose shoved Albus. "It's not any cat; it's going to be my new cat!" she announced. "I'll call him . . . Muffin!"

"That's a girls name."

"Not for a cat! Mum, have a look at this!" Rose exclaimed, calling over her mother.

Albus went to see what his other cousins were getting. Fred had got his Boggart, called Titus. Roxanne had a white mouse called Whisker. Louis had a frog called Fredrick, and Dominique had a fluffy white cat called Snowprint. James, unsurprisingly, had gone for a snowy owl, called Hedwig II. But Lily's pet . . .

"Why can't I get a lizard called Hawking?" Lily protested as Albus questioned her choices.

"A lizard is a weird choice for a witch, and to call it Hawking? Hawking sounds like a name for an eagle."

"Lizards are interesting animals: they are cold blooded, have interesting anatomy and, most of all, some have funny tongues that stick to things. And Hawking: Steven Hawking is my favourite scientist!"

"Is this to do with your science obsession? Science will mess up your head if you live in a world like ours . . ."

" . . . But science explains everything! Even the Ministry has departments dedicated to linking science and magic. In an age of technology, even wizards need to adapt!"

"Even still, it's a stupid name for a lizard."

"Fine, I'll call him Stevie!"

All that was left was for Albus to name his tawny owl. It should be something to do with her appearance, and something mystical. Browneye . . . Wingclaw . . . "Brownbeak!" Albus decided, not noticing he was saying it aloud. "Brownbeak, I'm going to call you Brownbeak!" Albus said, looking into the tawny owl's eyes.

_Thank you for reading! Please review :-) _


	6. Race Through London

_I do not own Harry Potter._

Albus had been dragged out of bed by his dad, and toast and bacon was forced into his mouth. Once again, Ron had forgot to set an alarm clock and, therefore, had caused the family to oversleep by an hour, on the day the Hogwarts Express was due to set off for Hogwarts. Everyone was in a panic, especially the adults, trying to feed and wash everyone on time. Molly was busy preparing breakfast in pyjamas (which she strongly disapproved of), the Weasley's were arguing over who would be first to take a shower and Lily was nowhere to be seen. Bill, Fleur, Dominique and Louis were still in bed as they hadn't needed to go to London, luckily for them.

"Ron, you idiot!" Hermione screamed. "This is all your fault you know!"

"Calm down, love. The kids won't mind missing an hour or so of school; I wouldn't have!" Ron smiled.

Hermione whacked Ron on the head with a rolled up newspaper. "Go and take a shower before Angelina takes it!"

Once again, Albus enjoyed his breakfast of toast, bacon, mushrooms and tomato, this time, with Brownbeak the owl watching over him like a pleasant stalker. Occasionally, he would steal a bit of mushroom, then look at Albus as if nothing had happened. It made Albus laugh.

Harry ushered Albus out of his seat as soon as he could and ordered him to take a wash. By then, only the adults had managed to get a wash, leaving the kids lined up outside the bathroom, waiting for Angelina to complete her morning beauty regime, just as Hermione had predicted. Albus was still tired and confused from the early wake, and let his towel roll out his hands as he started to drift into sleep . . . _Pow!_

"Wake up, Albus!" Roxanne instructed, slapping Albus in the face. "Mum's nearly out, so get ready for a fight to get washed."

_Click_, the lock of the bathroom door clicked open. Angelina appeared from out of the bathroom, with her face freshly powdered and her eyebrows nearly plucked, giving her a less plastic appearance of a Barbie doll. She flicked her hair and strolled downstairs for a fat free, dietary breakfast.

Albus, Roxanne, Fred and Rose stared at each other through the steam that floated out the bathroom. Each had the same objective: being the first in the bathroom. They stared at each other, not daring to move. Suddenly, they darted towards the bathroom. They pushed, squashed and pulled each other as they battle to get into the bathroom. Roxanne was pushed Albus from one side, Rose from another as he pulled Fred out his way. Albus pushed Louis into Rose, giving him the perfect opportunity to get into the bathroom. He leapt into the bathroom and locked the door after forcing it shut. He had won!

The steamy, hot water washed the exhaustion and sweat from Albus. He felt cleansed and fresh and vibration. The banging on the door was the only thing that reminded Albus that he was in a hurry. He swept the clumps of soap and water off himself and left the bathroom quickly with a towel wrapped around his waist. The fight for the bathroom begun again.

Finally, the family was ready to leave. Albus and his cousins tied their shoelaces on the sofa as they listened to the conversation between Harry and Hermione. It didn't take a genius to realise they were panicking about catching the Hogwarts Express on time.

"We can't drive down to London we've only got thirty minutes!" Hermione panicked. "We should send a letter to McGonagall to say the kids will be late."

"How about we take the Floo Network?" Harry wondered.

"Muggles would riot if they saw people appearing from green flames in chimneys! Of course there aren't going to be any Floo Stations in Kings Cross!" Hermione pointed out.

"But this is London we're talking about; there's gonna be a Floo Station somewhere."

"We'll have to run though . . . With suitcases!"

"The kids can handle it!"

"Ginny's in heels!" Hermione screamed. She slapped Harry in the face in a panic. "What the hell! It's the only way we'll get there on time!"

"Get the others while I send the kids through," Harry ordered. Hermione rushed off, calling for Ron, Ginny, George and Angelina.

Albus, Lily, James, Rose, Fred and Roxanne gathered by the fireplace with their suitcases in hand and animal cages perched on top of them. "Where are we going?" James asked, "what street?"

Harry rubbed his scalp with his hand to help sooth his thoughts. "I dunno . . . London's a big place and wizards aren't great at Geography!"

"If we say "King's Cross", surely the Floo Network will direct us to the closest fireplace," James suggested.

"That just might work!" Harry hoped, "you can test it first!"

Harry nudged James into the fireplace and planted Floo Powder into his hands. James secured his grip on his brown, leather suitcase and held his owl cage in the other, then he dropped the dust: "King's Cross!" James was swallowed by emerald flames, then he, and his suitcase, disappeared.

"Lily, you next," Harry instructed.

"Dad, how do we know where James is?" Lily asked.

"I don't . . . But what choice do we have?"

"To be honest, I'm a little scared of appearing somewhere, anywhere. So what?" Lily bounded into the fireplace and was quickly swallowed up by emerald fire. Rose, Roxanne and Fred also disappeared into the flames before it was Albus' turn.

"In you go, son," Harry insisted.

Albus walked into the fireplace with his suitcase dragging behind him. Brownbeak chirped in her cage. He took a fist of powder and threw it on the floor, with the chant of: "King's Cross!"

Once the growing warmth and sound of sucking was over, Albus opened his eyes to find himself in a dark, wet, noisy side alley. It stank of urine and he could see the silhouettes of scuttling rats. He had to move out the way of a looking pipe that dropped murky droplets down his back. The others were on his right. "Where are we?"

James stepped forward from the group. "There's a street sign at the end of the alley; it says we're in Islington. We're two miles away from King's Cross."

"Great! We've only got twenty minutes; we'll never get there with all these bags!" Albus sighed.

"I know: we're gonna have to run!" Rose decided.

"The adults aren't here yet though," Albus argued.

"We've not got time to wait. We can send them a note on the train," suggested Rose.

"What are we waiting for?" Fred smiled, "let's run!"

They pegged it, all six of them, through the streets of London. Their suitcases rolled along behind them and their cages smashed against their calves as they ran. The side alley opened up onto a main street, paved with cobbles. Albus pushed through businessmen and women in expensive dresses, only looking back to see his cousins doing the same. A flock of pigeons abandoned the chips they were feasting on and flew into the air, getting out of Albus' way. James was jumping over benches and maneuvered his way around a marching brass band. Lily was just behind Albus, scurrying between peoples' legs with her owl in hand. Roxanne and Fred were ahead, side by side, running along the street and jumping over litter. Their hair whipped through the air behind them, only adding to the illusion that they had super speed.

Albus saw flashes of shops and signs and people and cars as he sprinted past. His face turned to ice with the wind that slapped him in the face and despite the aching in his stomach and legs, he was enjoying the thrill so much he refused to stop running. Even Brownbeak seemed to enjoy it. He followed Fred on a sharp turn to the right which let them downhill into a market area.

Fruit and vegetable sellers just stared at then in wonder and confusion as he and Fred ran down the street, dodging in and out of customers. It wasn't long until James, Rose, Lily and Roxanne followed them down the hill. Looking back, Albus thought the view looked like a slow motion scene from a cheesy American movie.

"Woah, woah, woah! Stop here!" Rose cried.

Fred and Albus turned back to look at what Rose was looking at. "Wow . . ." Albus gasped.

The street they stood in was just like the streets before, but with more bright lights and high street shops. In the distance, above all the building, stood a tall orange/brown tower with a silver spire and a grand, ticking clock. St Pancras Station!

"That's St Pancras, right?" Roxanne wandered.

"Yeah!" Rose answered.

"St Pancras is right by King's Cross, isn't it?" Albus asked.

"Exactly!"

"Come on, we've got a train to catch!" Fred announced, continuing the run.

They continued to run. The path through London got flatter and more urbanized, with pigeons and half eaten fast food. Already, the group had to stop for short breaths and slow down. Albus felt the stickiness of sweat all over him and the cold air gave him a tingling sensation.

"Guys, this way!" Albus called, turning round a corner. A tall, long, brick building with a clock tower at the front stood in front of Albus: King's Cross Station. Before the station, cars and red buses rushed past.

"Forget traffic, we've got four minutes to get on that train," Fred decided. He picked up his owl cage and suitcase and ran out into the road. Here swerved past the first car, but the second had to suddenly break to avoid him. "Come on then!" Fred called from the pavement, barely surviving the incident. Albus and the others just followed, laughing at their cousin's pure stupidity and bravery.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Albus turned around: it was the man from the car that had braked suddenly. He was tall, tattooed and muscled, not the type of person that Albus would usual like to get on the wrong side of. "I asked you a question!" The man advanced on Fred and the others.

"Run!" James screamed.

Just like before, they ran as fast as they could, with the tattooed man hot on their heels. The man chased pursued them into the building, shouting comments like, "_stop there you bloody thugs_", "_when I get you you'll be wishing I'd hit you_" and "_run little kiddy's, I'm gonna get you!_". The six of them entered the station. People were starting to notice the scene and turned round to watch, even the police guarding the station seemed to sense something was up. Albus barely had time to look at the interior of the station. There were a couple of red and purple trains, small shops and newsagents and boards, everywhere, advertising the departure and arrival dates of trains.

"We're nearly there!" James announced, leading the group. "Platform three, four, five, six, seven, eight . . . Nine!"

James dived forwards, aiming for the barrier between platforms nine and ten. For a moment, Albus believed that James would collided with the barrier, resulting in bruises, a broken nose and a significant drop of dignity. But not, James disappeared into the barrier in a second.

Albus turned around: the tattooed man was nearly in arms reach of Lily and at least ten people were watching the scene. Would it be safe to go for the barrier? He had to anyway, and the Ministry could easily manipulate people into forgetting that they'd seen six children and their luggage disappear into a brick barrier. Albus took a dive too, straight into the barrier . . . Like expected, he looked up to see himself on the busy Platform 9 3/4.

It was just how he remembered it: parents packed the area, waving their children as they boarded, white smoke fluttered through the platform, mystically, from the long, shining, scarlet train, that was, the Hogwarts Express. Rose, Fred, Roxanne and Lily appeared behind him, appearing damage free.

"That was so scary, yet satisfyingly fun," Lily laughed, looking slightly shaken, "I wish I could've seen that guys expression when he face planted that wall!"

"That was so close . . ." Roxanne gasped.

"Guys, come on, we've got a minute!" reminded James, pointing to the clock. He was right.

They dragged their suitcases to the long, scarlet, Hogwarts Express and one by one got on. They had to go to the very end of the train to find an empty compartment. The carriages were packed with children all ages, some weak and geeky, others (mainly from Slytherin) looked like they should be avoided at all times for risk of decapitation. They rested their bags under the seats and in the overhead lockers, then took their seats.

Slowly, as the train left the station, they looked out of the carriage window to see waving parents gradually disappear behind them in thick white smoke. They had left London behind . . .

_Thank you for reading! Please, please review; it would mean a lot! :-) _


	7. Fulfilment of the Prophecy

_I do not own Harry Potter._

The scarlet Hogwarts Express rolled along its tracks, through mountains and valleys and over lakes. Albus, along with his cousins and siblings, was cramped into what had been the last free carriage. Rose and Lily were on one seat; Roxanne and Fred were on the other. James and Albus were forced to stand because the various pets also needed space. It was only a moment ago that James had let his owl loose to send a message to his parents, telling them that everyone had boarded the train properly, and now everyone was eager to see Hedwig II return.

"God," Fred groaned, throwing back his head, "I thought you guys said that someone comes around with sweets?"

"Someone does, but not yet; people need time to organize their bags and where they're sitting," James explained.

"Besides, you could do without sweets for a bit," joked Roxanne, poking her brother in the stomach.

"Hey! Before I came to Hogwarts, I was captain of the football team, lead batter for the cricket team and did Zumba twice a week!" Fred boasted with an _in your face _expression.

"Talking about fat people, I'm off to find Robbie and Jack," James announced.

"Come on, Robbie isn't that fat!" Rose complained. "He's not bad looking actual."

"Who's this Robbie guy?" Roxanne asked.

"One of James' friends," answered Rose as James left the carriage.

Albus was surprised to see the speckled wings of a black, almost Raven like owl fly into the carriage. Everyone took a shuffled back out of its way, and showed the same scared/confused expression as it landed on the windowsill.

"Whose owl is that?" Roxanne screeched.

"What's that in its talons?" Rose wondered.

Albus looked at where Rose was pointing. Whatever it was was rolled up, shiny and colourful; a magazine. Albus also noticed a leather pouch strapped around the bird's neck. Albus stepped forward: he moved the owl's talons up with one finger and quickly snatched the magazine. Once he'd unravelled it, he could easily read the title: _TeenTech_. It had interviews from a "Professor Henry Austfergan" and "Maggie Humphrey", and had claimed to be able to tell you how to dissect a brain in five simple steps.

"Who's magazine is this?" Albus asked, holding up the magazine so the others could see.

"Over here!" Lily said.

"Oh, of course it would be yours," laughed Albus, throwing Lily the magazine.

"Sorry for being so predictable . . . What's so bad about me being into science; science is what makes the universe!"

"Yeah, but magic turns around and laughs in the universes face before kicking its balls!" joked Albus.

Lily stuck her tongue out at her brother and started to browse through the magazine. Almost immediately, Rose seemed to take notice of the magazine.

"Tilt the page up," she instructed. Lily, with a puzzled look, closed the magazine and showed the cover to Rose. "Maggie Humphrey . . . Maggie Humphrey . . .? That's mum's wand friend!" Rose cried, "Have a look at this!"

Rose forced the front cover under Albus' nose. Rose was right, it was Maggie Humphrey who Hermione had mentioned. Suddenly, Albus' vision blurred and he was overcome by an immense force of realisation that shot the breath out of him. _Your sister's, Lily_, that was what Ben had said at the funeral. He foretold that the future had something to do with Lily's magazine! Albus snatched the magazine out of Rose's clutch.

"What are you doing?!" Lily screamed.

Albus flicked through the pages, looking for clues or hidden notes, anything. He was sure it would all be part of some twisted joke and that there would be a smiley face scribbled in that back with the phrase, _Gotcha! _There was nothing obvious, just interviews and diagrams.

"Are you possessed or something?" Fred laughed.

"Take a chill pill!" added Roxanne.

Albus looked up from the magazine to see everyone staring at him in confusion. "Can I have my magazine back?" Lily demanded.

Albus grinned, "One moment, I'm sure Arthur will be interesting in . . ." he glanced at the front cover, "splitting barticles!" He said, running out the door with the magazine.

"It's particles, not barticles!" Lily shouted at him.

Knocking into walls and tripping over his shoelaces, Albus ran down the train, looking through carriage windows, trying to find his friends, Arthur, Esther and Poppy. People stared at him as he stumbled along with the judgmental expression that translated as: _What are you doing? You look like a right freak! _A couple of Slytherin's even stuck their feet out to try and trip him up.

"Hey, Al!"

Albus spun round, it was Rose who had shouted at him, she had obviously followed him out the carriage.

"What are you doing, Al? I can tell when something's up," she asked, genuinely concerned.

"Wow, you also noticed that when I lie I tap my left foot. Ever considered being a psychiatrist?" he laughed.

"Shut up! Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I need to find Esther and Arthur and Poppy."

"Why?"

"I'll explain when we find them."

"Who says I'm coming?"

"It doesn't take a psychiatrist to tell that you want to find out what's up!" Albus replied, making Rose laugh.

"Fine then, off we go. But let's take things at a slower pace, yeah."

Albus and Rose continued to search the carriages, it was nearly at the very front the Albus and Rose found their friends. Esther, Poppy and Arthur were sharing a carriage; they seemed to be laughing and enjoying themselves. They were tanned from holidays and wore reasonably short and loose clothing. They definitely looked more refreshed then how they had been at the funeral.

"Hey, Al!" Esther cried, first to notice Albus and Rose through the window.

"Hi!" Albus replied, sliding open the carriage door and entering.

"Hi, Al! Guess what happened, in Turkey! Monkeys, would you believe it, got into our villa and stole all the cheese and bananas. I never even know monkeys liked cheese: cows probably would though. Then, guess what . . ." Albus got lost in Arthur's ramble. It was the sort of ramble he also did about his bizarre family holidays, he would be repeating the story for a whole term.

Albus just smiled at Esther, slightly awkwardly, not bothering to take notice of Arthur. Esther smiled back, but her smile was much more beautiful. Esther and Albus hadn't spoken much over the holidays and they'd only met face to face at Hugo's funeral, so there was a lot of catching up to do. She still had her flowing brown hair and beautiful, auburn eye face that identically matched get sisters.

"It's nice to see you again," Esther smiled.

"It's even nicer to see you," Albus flirted.

Arthur pulled a face and pretended to vomit.

"Hi Albus, hi Rose!" greeted Poppy.

"Hi!" Rose replied.

Arthur clicked his fingers in Albus' face, breaking his trance like stare with Esther. "Sit down," he ordered, gesturing to the seat next to him. Albus sat down; Rose went by Poppy.

"What were your holidays like?" Poppy asked, beginning to conversation. Arthur was quick to judge Poppy, noticing that that particular question might stir up some tears.

"I went to Turkey!" Arthur began. "I may have told you, but there were these monkeys and . . ."

"Me and Poppy went to New York!" Esther interrupted, saving the group from a long and boring ramble. "We saw the Empire State, Times Square and visited the Ministry of Magic, the Statue of Liberty version."

"To clear things up, the Ministry of Magic is actually in the torch! There's an enchantment that shrinks magical people so they can enter," Poppy explained.

"That sounds great," Albus grinned, "but there is something I really need to talk to you about . . ." Albus explained everything, everything about Ben Applewhite and Lily's magazine. He included every detail and watched his friends' expressions as they went from shock and confusion then back again. "What do you think: is it a coincidence, is it a joke or is what Ben's saying true?"

"He sounds like a total weirdo!" stated Arthur.

"I dunno, it's rare, but some wizards have a natural ability of prediction from a young age," Poppy added.

"I don't know," Esther said.

"Why don't you ask James, he does Divination?" Rose wondered.

"I don't want to tell James, I know he's my brother but I wouldn't trust secrets with him, not like I do with you guys," said Albus. Esther smiled.

"What does the magazine say anyway?" Arthur asked, taking _TeenTech _from Albus and starting to read it.

"It's got interviews, weekly columns, people writing in . . . Just the usual really," Rose summarised.

"Yeah, but got geeks!" Arthur laughed.

"Hey," cried Albus, "that's my sister!" He snatched the magazine back.

"It's hard to tell," thought Esther, "prophecies are always tricky to interpret. Then there's the self fulfilling prophecy, when you do all you can to stop a prophecy to come true, only to realise you've sealed your fate. I honestly think you should see what happens; you don't want to make things worse."

"But I don't even know what the prophecy is! Ben just said Lily magazine had something to do with it but it's clean," Albus argued. "What happens if the prophecy is good and there's nothing to worry about?"

"Mum always says prophecies are a load of rubbish, and I've learnt to trust her judgment," added Rose.

"The woman will be coming with sweets any moment," Poppy interjected, changing the subject, "we'd better change into our uniform. I'll be in the girls' changing rooms, you two are free to join me!"

The girls left with their uniforms, leaving the Albus and Arthur to change in the carriage. When the sweet trolley came, they bought enough_ Chocolate Frogs _and _Bertie Boots' Every Flavour Beans _to last a term. Albus even bought Esther a raspberry flavoured, heart shaped lollipop the size of his head. Not long after, Lily arrived for her magazine, which Albus reluctantly handed over.

"You didn't get many sweets, did you?" Esther laughed as the girls arrived.

"And what time do you call this?" Albus added, continued the flirting.

"Time that you get a watch," replied Esther, with a gleam of _in your face, _in her eye.

"I got you this," Albus said nervously as her handed Esther the lollipop.

Esther smiled, "ha ha! You totally fell for that!" All the girls burst into laughter. Albus looked around, confused at why they were giggling. What had we fallen for? Was it the overly sized lollipop? "In not Esther, I'm Poppy!" she giggled. Albus still didn't quite understand what was going on.

"I'm Esther, that's Poppy," the girl who Albus thought was Poppy said. "We pretended to be each other for a laugh," explained Esther as she swapped places with Poppy, "thank you for the lollipop, it was really nice!" Esther blushed. She leaned forward and kissed Albus' cheek. _Oooh! _Rose and Poppy giggled.

"Get a room!" Arthur said with another fake regurgitation.

"Look, it's Hogsmeade!" Rose announced.

Everyone gathered around Rose and stared out the window, steaming up the window. The village of Hogsmeade stood alone on a mountainous slope, its buildings and shops glowed with a welcoming amber light and gave the streets a watery effect. Hogwarts would be just behind, but from where they were they couldn't see it.

"Get your bags, we're here . . ."

_Thank you for reading! Please review!_


	8. Trial By Darkness

_I do not own Harry Potter._

Albus and his friends filed out onto the platform of Hogsmeade Station. The orange light danced on the water covered cobbles of the streets. Windows were opened and residents stepped out onto their doorways to inspect and scrutinise the new crop of hopeful wizards. They smiled and some even spoke the phrase Albus had heard many times: _"Is it me, or are they getting smaller?" _The scarlet train seemed to relax as students boarded the platforms with their friends and their bags and their pets in a giggling, ecstatic, shambolic mess. Within minutes, the platform was booming with the screeches of owls, giggles of girls and boisterous chants. Hogsmeade was vivid with noise, life and the black, green, yellow, blue and red colours of Hogwarts uniforms.

"SILENCE!" screamed the breath taking, pleasantly familiar voice of Hagrid. The station fell silent and all attention was directed at the tall, bearded man. "Listen carefully you lo' cos I only wants to tell youz this once. Firs' years are to follow Filch down to the lake to get boats across to 'Ogwarts. Fourth years an' onwards are to follow Professor Fli'wick to get carts across. Third years with Professor Slug'orn and second years with me!"

"Why are we not getting a cart?" The ice cold voice of Scorpius Malfoy bellowed as the crowd thinned.

"Never youz mind," Hagrid snapped back. "You'll be briefed when we ge' where we needs to!"

"Ok, but I'll warn you, I didn't know we had to pack walking boots!" Scorpius laughed, shoving his equally fiendish (and slightly overweight) friends, Capricorn and Milligan, instructing them to laugh with him.

Hagrid chose to overlook that comment and lead the year to their destination. He led them through Hogsmeade, past the shimmering, wet streets and the glittering, orange streetlights. The streets and shops thinned out and were replaced with flourishing, dark trees. It became muddy and crunchy with leaves underfoot. Thick black layers of leaves hung in the air, blocking out the moonlight to leave only the now eerie orange light that they'd left behind.

"I have a feeling I'm not going to enjoy what happens next," Albus groaned, with a giggle from Arthur.

Hagrid spotted the group in a clearing, surrounded by thick trunked trees and only a slither of moonlight. The mere appearance sent shivers down Albus' spine, not to mention the chilled air. As the last people gathered, it was starting to feel very claustrophobic.

"Listen up!" Hagrid called, silencing the area further. "From last year, you may remember that the Minister of Magic and Professor McGonagall herself have been encourage more events in which you will be faced with unusual situations which you will be needin' quick thinkin', magic knowledge and teamwork to deal with. Tonight, you face the first challenge of your year! The aim is simple, navigate yourself to 'Ogwarts through the forest in time for the Great Feast. 'Owever, there will be no maps and there will be creatures in the forest with you. There is nothing to worry about, no monsters can kill you, only minor injuries!" A girl fainted at the back of the group. "We will only be collecting people at eleven o'clock if you get lost," Hagrid continued, "so, in short, don't get lost! You can work in groups of up to six. You may begin!"

Hagrid walked in the opposite direction the group was facing, leaving everyone a bit unsure of what to do. Some people followed Hagrid in hope that he'd show them the way, others sat on the nearest tree trunk and decided they'd wait it out to eleven rather than make the effort.

"I'm guessing we'll be working together!" smiled Esther as she, Poppy and Rose gathered around Albus and Arthur.

"Sure, so what's the plan?" Albus began.

"I was thinking 'bout hanging out here, you know, tell some ghost stories, zap some spiders . . ." Arthur's sentence faded when he realised that everyone was glaring at him. "Or we could go to Hogwarts!"

"Exactly, Arthur. We could send off the owls; they naturally go to Hogwarts so we can just follow them!" Rose suggested.

"I vote what Rose said!" Arthur said, raising her hand.

"Me too," said Poppy.

Albus opened his owl's cage. Brownbeak was hesitant to get out of the cage at first, but Albus was able to coax her out onto his finger. She looked around with her large eyes, then, eventually, she jumped off his finger with the powerful flutter of her wings. The brown and grey feathers on her back disappeared into the blackness of the trees as she flew towards the moon.

"That way!" Esther announced. They collected their bags and followed Brownbeak, in the direction of the moon. Not many people seemed to be travelling in their direction, which Albus couldn't figure out to be good or bad. Already, the forest was getting darker and they could only see about ten metres in front of them, which wasn't helped by the forest getting thicker with trees.

"Lumos!" Albus mumbled, lighting the tip of his wand with a spell he'd learned the year before. The others soon followed, lighting the area around them.

"Which direction do we go now?" Poppy asked.

"We're following the moon, that's where Albus' owl went," answered Rose.

"I know, but where do we go if we can't see the moon?" Poppy said. The forest fell silent and the group stopped in their tracks. That had been the reason everything had gotten so dark; the trees were blocking out the moon! How could they have not noticed?

Albus gave out a long sigh. "Brownbeak! Brownbeak!" Albus cried, attempting to summon his pet.

"We're lost!" groaned Esther.

"No we're not, we're just taking the scenic route that none of us have been on before," joked Albus, trying to comfort his girlfriend. He was sure he could feel their pinkys intertwining. He hoped no one would notice, and he was sure Esther felt the same.

"Wingardium leviosa!" Arthur announced, "we can lift someone up and they can find the moon!"

"Finally, a good idea!" laughed Albus. Arthur laughed at him sarcastically. "Wingardium leviosa!" he cried, pointing his wand at Arthur, unexpectedly.

Arthur screamed and was pulled high into the air. "Albus!" he screamed. "You total git!"

Albus and the others laughed at their friend, who was squirming and kicking in the air. "Find the moon!" Rose instructed.

Arthur did a breaststroke like action in the air to turn around. "That way," he decided, pointing slightly right of the direction they were going in. "Can you let me down now!"

Albus, who was controlling Arthur, lowered him down very slowly. Suddenly, Albus felt an incredibly painful sensation in his calf, as if something with giant teeth was biting him. In the commotion, Albus looked behind him to find the source of the pain, forgetting that Arthur was still in the air. Arthur dropped from the air with a blood curdling scream.

"Arresto momentum!" Rose cried, just it time. Arthur rapidly slowed down and dropped on his stomach only a metre from the ground.

Albus turned around and looked into the darkness to see what had bitten him. He couldn't see anything in the darkness of trees.

"Albus, your leg!" Esther screamed. She dropped on her knees and rolled up the bottom of Albus' trousers. There were two deep puncture wounds underneath that oozed thick scarlet blood. Esther pressed on the wound to stop the blood coming out, but already it was becoming sticky and continued to run free. "You've been bitten by something . . ."

"By what?" Albus wondered through gritted teeth, trying not to howl out in pain.

Poppy answered with wide eyes and a scream. "Acromantula!"

Albus looked where Poppy was pointing. Red eyes shone amongst the darkness of the trees with watchful stares. Their thin, hairy bodies emerged into the light, with their fangs clicking and their eight legs stamping into the ground. They were big, bigger than the spiders Albus were used to. They would easy be as high as his hips, some even bigger.

"Run!" Arthur screamed, only just in time to pick himself off the ground.

Albus didn't have to think twice to pull Esther off the ground and run in the direction off Hogwarts. He could hear the snapping fangs of the spiders only footsteps behind him as weaved in and out of trees with Esther at his side. In front of them, Rose shot bolts of red light at the acromantulas, knocking them back into trees and one another. Albus kicked a spider as it leapt for Esther's back. His leg burned with pain as he did so. He could feel the warm, wet blood sink down his leg and into his shoes. Albus was far behind the others, he was sure his leg was too painful to let him go for much further.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Esther screamed, freezing two spiders in their tracks.

Despite the pain he was going through, Albus continued to run from the acromantula. Every time he jumped over a log or swerved between two trees, his leg stung even more, he would have to stop seen and face the acromantula. Even if it would help the others. Why couldn't Hogwarts be closer?

That was when Albus' shoe caught on a rock. His head slammed into the trunk of a tree and he sunk to the ground. He could feel his wand fall just out of his reach and his suitcase rolled away behind him. He was dizzy, his vision was blurred and his head was throbbing but he could still see the red eyes of the spiders advance towards him and hear their clicking fangs. Desperately, he reached out for where he thought his wand had landed, feeling out for the wooden point and rough chimaera scales. He was scared, and panicking: he was going to die. With the acromantula metres away from him, he was sure he wouldn't get his wand on time. He would have to fight them like a Muggle

"Die you eight legged freaks!"

A dark figure appeared in front of Albus, but his eyes were too blurred to tell who. The figure lifted a suitcase over it's head and swung it at the acromantula, knocking back at least five of the monsters. There were another couple of swings and then the screeching of the acromantula was silenced.

The figure knelt beside Albus and handed him his wand. Albus could see the figure better now, it was Esther, or Poppy. His vision wasn't clear enough to determine between their extremely similar looks. She looked at the bite on his leg, which was still bleeding, then looked at his head. The fall had obviously caused him more damage than he'd noticed.

"Get up, Albus! The others are buying us time but we have to go no! I'll get your bags!" she said, then she disappeared behind the tree.

Albus pulled himself onto his knees with immense pain. He gave up and fell onto his side. "Come on, Albus!" The girl said, back with the bags. "Don't let me down!" She pleaded. Albus was pulled to his feet and was pushed forward. With the girl holding his hand, he was able to balance himself, but even walking came with great difficulty. He was sure that could collapse or vomit at any moment. With the girl's encouragement, he started to jog, but only slowly and with gaps in between.

Albus could hear footsteps coming up from beside him, and unfortunately, the snapping of fangs.

"Come on, Albus, you have to hurry!" Someone was saying to him. He could hear Arthur, and someone else, discussing what to do. It deeply saddened Albus to know that he was slowing the group down. He tried to convince his friends to leave him behind, but he couldn't even say the first syllable.

"Albus, run!" He was sure Rose had said that.

He tried to run, but he just couldn't, and if he could, he would end up running into a tree. Even the snapping of fangs behind him wasn't enough to keep him going. Albus found himself completely zoning out. The ground spun and disappeared beneath his feet. He lost his vision completely as his body fell into the mud. Even the pain disappeared. The last things he felt and heard was his hand slipping out the hand of his saviour and a girl scream . . . "Albus, don't let go!"

_Thank you for reading! What do you think should happen next? Please review!_


	9. Amnesia

_I do not own Harry Potter._

Albus opened his eyes, looking out into a blurry, unsteady world. His eyes were bagged and heavy; he had to use half his energy in a fight to keep them open. A soft, white pillow was propping up his head and the bed he was laying in was rigid and was itchy with dust. The blue gown he was dressed in with light, but comfortable nevertheless.

Where was he? More important, why was he there?

Albus' head was spinning with confusion and panic. He could seem to remember what had happened or grasp any answers. He was so tired and stiff he couldn't even gather enough strength to get out of bed, or remove the handcuff that attached him to his bed. His eyes were so blurry he could barely see his feet, his head was throbbing and so were his legs and feet. He turned over on his side and vomited onto the floor.

He wanted to get out of his bed. Even if it was just to stand for a second to stretch his limbs.

Carefully, and with much pain, Albus rolled over to the other side of his bed. With a push, his feet were pressed onto the cold surface of the floor and he was standing. A sharp pain pounded in his left leg and he collapsed to the floor. He would be squirming face first on the floor if the handcuff wasn't keeping him up.

"Dear, dear!" A nurse wobbled into Albus' vision. "Dear me, what have you been doing?" The nurse took Albus by the arm and waist and eased him back into his bed. Albus gripped his teeth to stop himself from crying out. He felt like hell.

"Oh! Just look what you've gone and done to my nice clean floor!" The nurse cried.

It was then that Albus realized that he must be in a hospital. He should probably start to trust the nurse then. But what hospital was he in? Why was he in so much pain?

The nurse called for a caretaker, who arrived immediately, and began examining Albus. She shone a bright light into Albus' eye, to his discomfort. Also, she peered at his head with many thoughtful _mmms_ and _aaahs_, it hurt a lot when she touched a lump on his head. She then got him to roll on his back so she could see his legs. The nurse was examining and touching the painful spots on his leg with a lot of consideration and thought. She decided that she was done and instructed Albus to sit up right again.

"I see you have finally woken up, Mr. Potter. How are you?" The nurse inquired with a caring and compassionate voice.

Albus tried his best to reply. "I . . . I . . . hurt . . . s, siiii . . . leg . . ." was all he could manage to say. Hopeful the nurse understood his message about his leg hurting and being sick.

"Alright. Are you aware of where you are? Do you know what has happened to you?"

Albus shook his head. No.

"We are at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in the Hospital Wing. I am Madam Pomfrey and I have been looking after you the past week. You sustained several injuries in a forest with your friends, and as a result, you've been asleep for a week. You did take a very bad hit to your head. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Albus wasn't sure how to answer. He knew that he was hurt and that he'd hit his head, but the forest? What forest? And he sure didn't want to explain the answer; for fear that he would be sick over Pomfrey.

"The acromantula bite to your left leg caused a lot of blood loss and a deep wound. I have fixed that with some of my homegrown potions, so the wounds have healed and scarring shouldn't last for long. About your head injury: you were unconscious for five days. Your eyes have become blurred, but I should have a remedy for that within two weeks. There may be other implications, but many mental. Like amnesia . . ." Madam Pomfrey explained.

Amnesia . . . Was that why he couldn't remember anything about a forest? That would explain a lot.

"I am cautious about giving you any _MemoryMagic, _because it would be a nightmare if there were any side effects, so you'll have to gain your memory by yourself." Madame Pomfrey pulled Albus' mouth open and placed a purple lozenge on his tongue, then shut his mouth again. "That'll destroy any infection caused by the acromanula bite. Sorry about the taste! I believe some friends have come to visit you. Hopefully, they'll jog your memory."

Madam Pomfrey went to open the door to the entrance of the room, turning into a blurred mess. The door opened with a very harsh, loud scraping noise. Albus could see several blurs moving towards him. They were quite quick, and he could tell there were about four of them. Four people. One of them was a boy, he looking just about shorter than Albus, with short brown hair and a permanently cheery expression. There was a girl with vivid ginger hair that shimmered like flames. And there was a girl, with brown hair.

But the other girl. She had identical looks to the girl with brown hair, but everything about her seemed more . . . Bright. More shiny and glowing.

"Esther . . ." Albus muttered.

Esther's face lit up, "Albus! You scared us so much in that forest. I thought you were dead!"

Albus smiled. He seemed to know everything about Esther already, but not the others. When he looked at Esther, he could see all there history together: their romance, their adventures . . . But when he looked at the others . . . Nothing. It was just their faces, which were blurred anyway.

"Hi, Albus how are you?" asked the ginger girl.

"Mmm . . ." Albus began, not sure whether he could trust the girl. "Not good. I was sick, I can't walk properly, my vision is blurred . . . And I could have amnesia; I'm not sure. Who are you?"

Albus didn't have to have perfect vision to tell that the girl's smile had sunk and her expressions weren't so happy. "What do you mean, _who am I_? Albus, it's me, Rose!"

"What about me?" said the boy. "You remember me, right?"

Nothing came to Albus. No memories at all. "Sorry, I don't know who any of you are! Apart from Esther."

"Esther?! I know you're her boyfriend, but surely you remember me," the ginger girl pleaded. "I'm Rose Weasley, your cousin!"

Albus wished he could see Rose's face, not to laugh at her, but to see her sorrow and how much the other Albus meant to her. By the panic in her voice, he could tell he obviously meant a lot to her. And the other two as well.

"How about me, I look just like Esther?" the brown haired girl inquired.

Albus shook his head. No.

"Why?" Screamed Rose. "Why her and not us? Did I really mean that little to you?"

Albus looked up at Esther. She looked down at him. "The forest . . . I was running for my life, but I couldn't. The only thing I can remember from the forest was that Esther saved me. And she was the last person I saw when I let go. When I let go of her hand." Albus found himself locking hands with Esther. "I'm sorry, Rose Weasley, but I can't remember you. Or you, or you. I wish I could, but I don't. I'm sorry."

"You don't mean that!" Suddenly, Rose jumped from her position and was face to face with Albus. He could see every detail of her now. Every strand of hair, every nervous twitch, every teardrop. Her face was pure fear and sorrow. Her skin was stained with tears and her lips trembled. "You don't mean that!"

"Sorry," Albus uttered.

"Please, don't say I've lost you too . . ."

The boy eased Rose back. "Calm down, Rose. It's just the amnesia. He'll remember us soon enough." The crying seemed to die down. "Stop crying, everything's okay."

"Leave me alone!" Rose screamed, pushing the boy away. The door creaked again as she stormed off.

"Don't worry, Albus, that wasn't your fault," Esther said.

"I don't get it," Albus started, "why was she so upset?"

"Because, recently, she lost the closest person to her. Her brother fell from a tower and dead. You, the other you, meant a lot to her. I just guess she couldn't stand to lose someone else . . ." The boy explained. "I'm Arthur, by the way."

"That's so sad," whispered Albus, too shocked to say it aloud.

"You were there," said the other girl. "We were all there when he fell . . . Jumped."

"I was there! How come I don't remember?" Albus gasped.

"May you don't want to remember." The girl continued, sounding so knowledgeable and insightful. "I know I want to forget."

"Thank you . . . What's your name?"

"Poppy Summers. I'm Esther's sister."

"It's nice to meet you, Poppy. What did happen at the forest, I can't remember a thing?" Albus asked.

Esther explained about the forest. She covered everything from the challenge to the acromantula. From the running to him hitting his head against a tree. Albus, however, paid no attention to Esther's explanation. All he could think about was the mysterious girl and the boy that had fallen from the tower. The Dark Tower.

He could remember that night now, like at was running as a movie in a private cinema inside his head. Albus had been so scared, trapped on the edge of the tower with Wormtail pulled at his hair and threatening to push. Esther had saved Albus, but the boy had taken his place. Then boy jumped, taking Wormtail with him. And the crash. The same crash that had haunted Albus in his sleep.

Albus couldn't remember Rose or Arthur or Poppy, but he could remember that night. The one night that would always be with him. Always be haunting him.

Albus snatched the wand that poked out of Esther's trouser pocket and pointed it at the handcuffs. "Alohomora!" The cuffs spring open with a click freeing Albus. Already, the others were trying to pull him back into his bed, but he just pushed them back and ran. His leg felt as if it was being dissected by a chainsaw or worse. He overcame the pain and ran; ran to Rose. He needed to tell her that he remembered that night at least. That he knew how she felt and why. People stared at him with quizzical expressions as he ran past in his gown as if he was mad. He didn't care if he was though. He could feel blood oozing down his leg and his head pounding, but he ran. He didn't know how to find Rose, he just followed his feet. Albus spent no time looking at corridors of Hogwarts, all he wanted to do was run. Anyone that got in his way was pushed away or knocked over. But the pain, it was slowing him down and he didn't know how much he could take.

He shrunk against a wall with his head between his legs. "Rose, I remember Hugo!"

_Thank you for reading! Please continue to read because the drama will be built up around Christmas! :-) _


	10. His Cousin's Death

_I do not own Harry Potter._

Albus had been remembering his cousin's death for the last week. The memory of the death was one of the few that he was still clinging on to. He imagined it as a crack; he'd fallen in but was able to hold on with only one hand. And Albus was determined not to let go, even if it was just that one memory. Hugo, pulling Wormtail off the tower, was replaying over and over in his head. It was the only perfectly clear vision in his head apart from letting go of Esther in the forest. What made him feel even worse was that every time he remembered that night, it made him want to crawl into a corner and die.

The last week had been unusual. Albus had been advised not to take part in lessons, as Madam Pomfrey had labelled as: _Mentally and Physically Unstable_. Albus had taken to walking around the Castle while the others were at lessons; it helped him develop his appalling drawing skills and bring back memories. They weren't quite memories, as such, more like images that he'd seen before. On his travels around the school, Albus had discovered a place which he had taken to visiting a lot . . .

He'd discovered it on the second day after he was released from the hospital. He had got bored of traipsing around the stairs and classrooms, so he went outside to the courtyard. Little memories were conjured. Albus, however, did come across a cupboard.

Albus thought it odd that the cupboard was between two pillars on the outer edge of the courtyard. The cupboard came up to his thighs and was of dark shaded wood. The golden knob was rusted and turning black, so Albus guessed it had barely been opened recently. An intricate pattern ran along the cupboard, engraved into the surface. Whatever the reason was that the cupboard was there, it was obviously important. With a hard twist on the knob, the cupboard door opened.

What Albus saw, was not what he'd expected. Inside the cupboard, there wasn't equipment or even any shelves. However, there was a long set of stairs leading down. A long set of stairs leading down into blackness. Immediately, Albus was pulling out his wand; he knew that he had known a spell to help him see, he just couldn't remember. Albus placed his wand back in his trouser pocket, closed the cupboard and left to get the matches that he'd found packed in his suitcase.

After a lunch of cheese sandwiches and tomato and basil soup, Albus returned to the cupboard, this time with Esther. She'd been so excited about the idea of a secret hideout that she told Professor Scamander that she was continuously being sick, to get out of lessons. Little did Scamander know that she'd been using sweets from one of George's _Skiving Snackboxes_. Albus and Esther met outside the cupboard: Esther with a lit wand and Albus with matches and some wooden sticks.

_Click! _Albus opened the cupboard door and revealed the dark staircase to Esther. Bravely, Esther went in first, having to crawl, as Albus shut the door behind them. The light of Esther's wand illuminated the staircase. Cobwebs were everywhere, thankfully with no spiders along with dusty stone steps that led down under the school. The air was cold and smelt like sweat and mud; echoes of their footsteps were loud. Albus could see a mixture of fear and curiosity written in Esther's expression as she scanned the stairs. She was an explorer.

The stairs levelled out onto a corridor. What was at the end of the corridor made Esther gasp.

"Is that a . . .?" Esther gasped.

"Yes, it's a fireplace!" The fireplace was large and ornately designed. Log upon log of wood sat in it, ready to be used. A dusty emerald pot was beside it. It didn't take long for Albus to figure out that this fireplace wasn't an average fireplace. But he couldn't tell why.

Esther scooped up something from inside the pot and emptied the contents in front of Albus. Tiny bits of black poured out of her hands; Albus couldn't tell whether the blackness was dust, stones or metal. "It's an escape route," Esther announced. "If Hogwarts is under attack, you simply come down here and transport yourself to safety with the Floo Powder!"

Albus recalled hearing the word _Floo Powder _before. "That would make sense; this castle is full of secret routes and traps." Albus knew that even with amnesia.

"Wow!" Esther gasped. "I bet no one knows about this! We can make this our secret hideout," she flirted, holding Albus' hand.

"It's beautiful . . ."

"That had better been about me!" Esther laughed before kissing Albus on the cheek.

The kiss stunned Albus. There was now a spot of both warmth and coldness on his cheek left by Esther's lips that would now be there forever. It made Albus feel so strange: he felt validated, appreciated, loved, but also that he didn't deserve the kiss, and that an older version of himself had. He understood why he was classed as _Mentally Unstable_.

Esther had obviously noticed that Albus felt uncomfortable with the situation. She continued to hold his hand, but she moved away from him slightly, still smiling.

Albus had visited the fireplace every day. _The Memory Room_, he called it, because he used that room to remember Hugo. He looked through photos and letters and drawing, anything that reminded him of Hugo and anything else. Some pictures confused him; mainly the ones with Rose, Arthur or Poppy. If he got chilly, he'd light the fireplace and burn his memories into blackened ashes. Images of Hugo were scratched onto the walls with a rock. Eventually, _The Memory Room _became _The Tear Room._

#####

Day 7 since being released from the hospital was the same as any other. Waking up too late, waving Esther off, feeling sorry as Rose stared through him like he was a ghost, eat a banana as compensation for breakfast, get washed, get dressed, gather a box of memories and head for the secret cupboard. Hours past as Albus sat on the cold stone floor, in front of the lit fireplace, scanning through pictures of Hugo. Albus recognised pictures of them from their childhood. It definitely jogged his memory: days at the beach, primary school, playing in parks, snowball fields in the fields outside Nanny Weasley's house. Everything flooded back in a monsoon of memories.

But he wanted to forget . . .

All those happy memories; every night, every day, every smile; he couldn't face any of it knowing that Hugo was dead. Life wasn't worth living if his best friend had smashed his skull on a stone floor. Hugo's death wasn't courageous, or noble, or victorious. It was cold hearted, and painful, and agonising. Every memory of Hugo would become a nightmare knowing that he was dead. Albus was happy he'd forgotten, and he'd be happier forgetting even more. All he wanted was to start from scratch. He would be a brand new person with new memories, new experiences and nothing to hold him back.

With a pained scream, Albus threw the photographs into the fire! The orange light flared and spat out flaming embers as the pictures were engulfed by heated and melted into nothingness. Tears poured down Albus' face and his eyes blazed with the memories that burned before him. He was slowly losing everything that attached him to Hugo . . . And it made him feel happy.

The rest of the morning was spent by Albus cowering in a corner. Eventually, as the last embers faded into darkness, Albus pulled himself up from the ground and onto his feet. He now knew what he had to do . . . He had to discover his true self.

#####

Albus woke the next day in his bed. The sun was rising, casting a dark, orange glow in the room. Large shadows were cast by the four poster beds which were covered in red and gold pillows and blankets. Across the room, other Gryffindor students were slowly stretching and dragging themselves out of bed and into the showers. Arthur woke moments after Albus, but with a lot more grunts and hiding under pillows.

"Morning . . ." Arthur groaned.

"Morning." Albus groaned back.

"I wish I had all day off school, like you," Arthur moaned.

"How can I have all day off school when I live in school?" Albus replied.

"You know what I mean! So what do you do when you're not in school, sorry . . . Not being taught?" Arthur asked.

Albus considered what to say, not wanting to seem weak and unstable. "I try to remember," he answered. That would do. "So what do you do in school, sorry . . . When you're being taught?"

"Professor Redgrave, the Astronomy teacher, turns out to be a bit psychopathic. He calls his wand Venus, and names the chairs after famous stars and constellations; not to mention that he has coordinating glasses and mug, shaped like a different planet each day! In Herbology, we're breeding giant cacti and in Potions were learned how to brew a potion that makes you forget the last hour. Oh yes, and there's Serpentina!" Arthur gasped, half expecting Albus to know who Serpentina was.

"Serpentina?" Albus asked.

"She's somebody that you used to know. I would tell you who she is, but I'm not sure how you'd take it considering your condition."

"That's alright, I understand . . ."

Arthur was only just crawling out of his bed when the door to the dormitory swung open. Esther strode into the room, widely smiling but with a shaken and dreary appearance. She was dressed in white pyjamas, and a crimson dressing gown with matching slippers. Every morning she would adopt the same routine, which began with the phrase:

"Morning, sleepy heads! What's up?!"

Albus replied as he did every day, "I slept fine. There was a dream I had about white chocolate cake, but no new memories."

"That's nice, I suppose," smiled Esther. Albus sat up as Esther threw a banana to him. "Banana?" she said, "It's full of potassium!"

This was the usual morning ritual: Esther would always give Albus a banana in the morning. It was supposedly to help clean ancient Japanese flies out of your brain, leaving it free to absorb and remember more information. Well, that's what a blonde haired, smiling but crazy teacher had told him, as she was reading a magazine named _The Quibbler_. But Albus, having changed his state of mind, decided that he didn't need the banana.

"No banana," he decided, throwing the banana back to Esther.

Esther raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you don't want the banana? What's going on?"

"I feel different," Albus replied. "I don't feel like crying, or trying to remember, or feeling guilty any more. If I get back into living normally, everything should start coming back to me. I want to start going to lessons again, and get to know people rather than being told who they are and what they're like!"

A gaping smile broke across Esther's face. "That's brilliant! It's nice not to see you like you were and making changes!"

"It's nice and that, but I have one question," Arthur began, "Since when were girls allowed in boys' rooms?"

"Always," Esther answered. "That's how it works."

"One thing, before I get dressed," Albus said, clearly leading up to something important . . . "I want to talk with Rose."

#####

Albus sat by Rose on one of the sofas in the common room. Dressed in black robes, Albus was already remembering the life of a Hogwarts student. Memories of homework, laughs, debated discussions and hilarious impression of teachers came rushing back to him like a high speed tidal wave. It was the first time Albus had had a proper, not so blurred, conversation with Rose, so the situation was awkward. Even Rose was fidgeting and didn't seem sure of where to look.

"Hi." Albus began, slowing chiselling away at the ice. "It's nice to finally speak to you properly. It's been a while."

Rose made a sound that was somewhere between being a laugh and a grunt. "Hasn't it just! I wanted to speak to you, but I wasn't sure what to say, or whether you'd understand what I have to say."

"I understand. My memory is coming back; I can remember some things; that's why I'm here. Hugo: I'm so sorry. It hurt for me when he died; I can't imagine anything so painful and disastrous. I don't believe that even the other me could think of anything worse. Then I thought of you! You were his brother. Every day of his life was spent with you. I only saw him on holidays, or weekends, or visits, and it hurt like hell to me. But for someone so much closer, I can't imagine the amount of sorrow you must be going through!"

A tear trickled down Rose's cheek.

"I want to make it clear that I can never know what it must feel like to be you at the moment, but I want to understand. I'll be here to help you, whether it be someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. I'm with all, every step of the way."

Rose looked into Albus' eyes. Her's were red and full with tears. Emotions seemed to be glowing off her, showing her deepest sadness to be so clear.

"It's clear that when I couldn't remember you, it broke your heart. For one second, to have lost another person so close that you, you would have to have a heart of ice not to crack. That's why I think you're feeling more pain than usual. But remember, I'm with you every step of the way. And I swear, I will remember you . . ."

Albus paused, now knowing exactly what to say.

"I am with you."

_Please review! I have hardly any reviews so it would mean a lot if you posted just one comment. Thank you, as ever, for reading and I hope you enjoy the storylines that are coming over Christmas! :-) _


	11. Sebastien Austfergan

_I do not own Harry Potter._

Albus left the common room feeling a lot better with himself, after talking with Rose. His first class of the year was Potions, despite it already being the third week of the Autumn term in late September, and he assured himself that he would try his best to make an impression and remember people he knew even if he felt sick all over and shuddering with nervous. At least his talk with Rose had relieved some stress.

Esther and Arthur were waiting for him at the top of one of the many staircases in the castle; he remembered them the best so he had decided to stick with them. "How are you?" Esther asked.

"Like if you stuffed a tomato with dynamite and threatened to put it in a microwave. I feel awful! That talk with Rose made me feel better, but I really don't feel good. Am I taking by recovery too fast?" Groaned Albus, starting to walk with them down the stairs.

"No, of course not!" Esther said reassuringly.

"If you took things any slower you'd be the world's slowest sloth!" laughed Arthur.

"Shut up!" Esther said.

"So what are we doing in Potions?" Albus asked.

"A mixture of different draughts, still just the basics though."

"Today we're doing a sleeping draught; mine'll probably fail, as usual. I'm rubbish at Potions, as you might know," Arthur explained.

"I know, you caused a cauldron to explode the first time I met you, didn't you?" Albus remembered.

"Yes!" smiled Arthur.

"What else do we have today?" Albus asked as they wandered further down into the school, close to the Slytherin common room and the Potions department.

"Astronomy with Redgrave, Hagrid for Magical Creatures, boring old Binns, and we're transforming animals into water goblets all this week with McGonagall!" explained Esther.

"Doesn't sound like a bad first day," Albus summarised, as they lined up outside Slughorn's room. Further down the dark, stone corridor was Professor Rabbitheart and his class of fourth years, the class with James, Jack and Robbie. Professor Rabbitheart was a tall, young looking man. The contrast between his thin, bony body his black cape was quite strange to look at; Albus thought he looked like a stick insect in a superhero cape. Despite his appearance, he looked like a nice person and an enthusiastic teacher.

"Albus, it's you! It's great to see you again, even if you have gone mad!" A blonde haired girl with large blue eyes grinned.

"He didn't go mad, Amelia, he just got amnesia," A taller boy, also with blonde hair, corrected.

"Thanks, Jacob, I was trying to lighten the mood!" Jacob gave a puzzled expression. "Anyway, Albus, how are you?" Amelia asked with a broad smile.

"I'm good. A lot better now I'm starting school again!" Albus smiled.

"And us," began Amelia, taking Jacob's hand and hugging him tightly, "can you remember me and Jay Jay?"

Jacob grimaced at the name Jay Jay, but shrugged it off and hugged her back.

"Yes, I suppose," Albus replied, a bit unsure of the situation.

"That's amazing!" Amelia screamed, jumping up and down with excitement. "No, but seriously, forgetting me and my Jacob, that would not be cool! If you're friends with cool people, it's like so disrespectful to forget them. I just wouldn't be cool! On a lighter, talking about cool, you are invited to my and Jacob's first term party!"

"That's nice," Albus said, thinking _you are so crazy, and have you noticed how fast you talk_ as he did so.

"I know, right! All the cool people are coming: me, Jacob, Matt, Mike, Lis, Ben, Courtney, Ashley . . . It's gonna be great!"

"Wow! So, am I like one of the popular people now?" Albus asked, hopefully.

"No! Of course not!" Amelia laughed with a smile. "It's just that surviving a potentially life threatening accident is really sexy, to the girls at least. They went crazy when they found out you'd battled a hoard of Acromantula . . ."

"I battle the Acromantula too," Arthur interrupted. "Did the girls go crazy over me and find me sexy?" he said, flicking and spiking his hair as he used his _smooth as _voice.

Amelia responded with a blank expression. "Why would they? All the girls think you're weird. The only reason they would consider liking you is because of the Twenty Twelve Big One, but I was a victim of it and ended up vomiting all day, so all my girlfriends hated you!" Amelia laughed. "But back to you, Al. The party's in our common room on Friday at eight onwards, but people from other houses are coming too so you're going to have to keep it a secret. One more thing, you can have a plus one. But not weirdo over there!" Amelia sewed, glaring at Arthur.

"That's fine, I was gonna take Esther anyway." Albus smiled and held Esther's hand.

Amelia gasped, "You have a girlfriend?! You are way cooler than I thought! I'll see you at the party then!" Amelia smiled once more and pulled Jacob with her to the back of the line. As they left, Albus caught a glimpse of Jacob mouthing something to them, but he couldn't be sure exactly of what he was trying to say. Something about Amelia being a crazy person.

The classroom door opened and out came Professor Slughorn, dressed in his emerald and amber robes with a bow tie and hat. "Hello students, lead in!" Slughorn greeted the class the in a deep, excited voice.

Slowly, the class led into the classroom. Albus, Esther and Arthur were about to go in when Slughorn stopped them. "Hello, Mr Potter! And might I ask, how are you today?"

"I'm good, Sir."

"That's nice! I believe you got bitten by an Acromantula, I don't want to seem boastful but I was the one that made the brew that fought against the infection." Said Slughorn, chuckling slightly. "How's the amnesia, better I'm hoping?"

"A lot better, Sir, I can remember most things now." Albus stated.

"Brilliant! Today's lesson is basic, not much harder than the topics we've previously covered. I believe Rose may be able to help you catch up: she's rather good at this subject! She may nearly be skilled enough for the "Slug Club", I believe it's being called. Maybe next year she'll be good enough to be enrolled!"

Slughorn gestured for Albus and the others to enter. All the hand labelled vases, the flaming cauldrons and cutting equipment brought back many memories to Albus. He was particularly reminded of his first encounter with Arthur, and all the following lessons he'd spent concocting draughts and elixirs at an average standard. The room was lit by a dim orange and emerald glow, and the flames under the cauldrons warmed the room while the cold, underground weather cooled it. Slughorn stood at the front of the room and began the lesson.

"Hello, boys and girls! In today's lesson we'll be creating a simple sleeping draught. This draught is used for putting the subject to sleep for between two and six hours, its effects are harmless, but in school hours, you can get in severe trouble for using it. For this task, you may work individually but have help from the three other people at your station. For those of you that aren't aware of our seating arrangements, consult the sheet on the board," added Slughorn, giving Albus a discrete nod. "Many of the ingredients you will need already be on your desk in the correct quantities, but ingredients of more common uses can be found in one of the many jars around the room. Instructions on how to make the sleeping draught are on page two hundred and nine in your textbooks. If you are having troubles, please consult me rather than trying to fix the problem yourself. Off you go!"

Whilst the class went to their seats and started inspecting the instructions, Albus went to the front of the class to look at the seating plan. Pinned to the black board was the seating plan, where a piece of chalk was hovering in the air, jotting down bullet points for the class to follow. Rows of stations were drawn on the plan, each with the names of the people sitting there written in the correct place. Albus' name was written on the same station as Esther, Poppy and a boy that Albus had never spoken to before: Sebastien Austfergan.

Sebastien was a black boy from Ravenclaw, with eyes so dark brown they were nearly black and short curly hair. Everyone knew that Sebastien had been in a car accident when he was younger, and because of that, he had to use a wheelchair. Albus had never really spoken to him before; he'd never really had to. They would smile at each other and say _hi _when they met in a corridor, although there wasn't much more communication between them than that.

"Hey, over here!" Esther called from across the room.

Albus joined the group at a round table with four pewter pots lit by Bunsen burners and wooden chopping boards accompanied by rounded knives and herbs in clay pots. The table was split into four sections, Sebastien's section was built lower so that he could have easy access to it.

"Book, Albus?" Esther reminded him. Albus took out his book and turned to page two hundred and nine.

_1. Grind 1 inch of Bicorn horn into a thick paste in a pestle and mortar with five drops of Salamander blood_

_2. Simmer an infusion of finely sliced Mistletoe Berry and Dragon Milk until it turns a deep indigo colour._

_3. Continue to simmer the Mistletoe infusion whilst chopping Rat's Tail into 28mm long pieces._

_4. Add the Rat's Tail to the Mistletoe infusion and boil vigorously for two minutes._

_5. Mix counter clockwise with a wooden spoon twenty times, then thrice clockwise. By now, the potion should be bright magenta._

_6. Slowly fold in the Bicorn horn paste in 1 2/3 teaspoon lots._

_7. Drop a Peppermint Leaf on top of the concoction; if brewed properly it should turn transparent with the potion._

Albus didn't think that seemed too hard. A thin vile of blood was already at his section, along with a branch of mistletoe, a jug of dragon milk and a long, leathery rat tail. The rest of the class was already simmering their infusions, so Albus didn't want to spend much more time fussing over finding ingredients.

As Albus was starting to mark the one inch on his horn, Slughorn waddled over to Albus' table with Rose. "I hope everyone's getting on alright here! Anyway, I was thinking that Poppy here could swap with Rose, only for this lesson, just to help my good friend, Albus here, catch up." Rose and Poppy swapped places. "Thank you for your time!" Slughorn went back to inspecting everyone's work.

"Hey, Al!" Rose smiled, awkwardly. Albus smiled back.

Despite every attempt Albus made, the bicorn horn could not be sliced. He stabbed at it, tried to slice it, and even squash it; all it did was slip out the way and bounce around the table.

"Having trouble?" asked Rose.

"Have a guess!" Albus replied, stabbing the horn and sending it into Sebastien's stomach. "Sorry . . ."

"It's alright," said Sebastien, placing the horn back where it was. "Do know what would help . . ."

"A rounded blade," Rose interrupted, "I used that round blade and it sliced like a Excalibur through butter."

"Or, you could cut it slower," Sebastien suggested.

Albus tried Sebastien's method; he used the same knife but cut it at half the speed. The horn was sliced like Excalibur through butter. "Thank you, Sebastien!"

"Just Seb. My sister is obsessed with The Little Mermaid and it drives be crazy," explained Seb.

"You have a sister? How old is she?" Albus asked.

"Seven, but she's already great at magic. The last time I saw her, she was enchanting my dad's phone to glow pink when he got a message."

"I thought underage magic was against the law?"

"It is, but when you're in primary school it's not treated that seriously. The worst she got was a warning from a howler."

"Wow! Did you ever get in trouble like that?"

"I made a Potion that melted my Headmaster's nose off, he needed a rhinoplasty worth three and a half thousand pounds." The whole table started laughing (apart from Rose who was annoyed at Seb for correcting the mistake she'd caused).

"So are all your family members amazing at everything?" Esther asked.

"Each person in our family seems to be great at one specific thing. My sister's great at Charms, my mum's great a Herbology, my other brother in the third year is amazing at Transfiguration, my dad, oddly, is into Wizard Sciences and I'm quite good at Potions." Seb explained.

Whilst Sebastien and Esther continued to talk about their families, Albus continued making his sleeping draught. His paste looked about right, so he started his Mistletoe infusion. A berry was plucked and sliced from the branch he was given, but then he realised, how much dragon milk should he use?

"How much dragon milk should I put in?" Albus enquired to Rose.

"Don't you read? If you look in the last chapter in the books, it says that in situations like this, you add small amounts of the liquid until the optimal colour is achieved," answered Rose.

"Ok." Albus did what Rose said and poured drops of the dragon milk into cauldron with the Mistletoe berry. First, the infusion turned white, then green, then lilac, and then a grizzle black. "Damn it, I added too much!" Albus cried.

"That's alright, I know how to fix that," Seb said, pointing his wand at Albus' cauldron, "Corrigo!"

Albus' sleeping draught turned from black to indigo, the perfect indigo. "That was amazing! You really are great at Potions!"

By the time Albus added a peppermint leaf, the Potion was nearly perfect, thanks to Seb. As he packed up his bag for the next lesson, Albus couldn't help feeling that he'd made a valuable friend in Seb. Not only was he going to be a valuable friend, but he was also funny, clever and helpful. However, there was something else. Something about his name. Something about that name, Austfergan, that scared and intrigued him . . .

_Thank you for reading! :-) As always, please review! A rhinoplasty is the medical word for a nose job by the way. I promise that the next chapter will be fun but scary, and may contain dragons!_


	12. The Peruvian Vipertooth

_I do not own Harry Potter._

Albus' friendship with Seb had been going well through the rest of the day. In Astronomy with Professor Redgrave, they'd sat close to each other; Albus had his seat called Andromeda, then Arthur with a seat called Uranus (which he got laughed at for), and Redgrave had even taken the liberty of naming Seb's wheelchair Orion. Through the lesson, all Albus had learned was how true Esther's stories were about how crazy Redgrave was. Both his giant glasses and mug were bright orange and shaped like Mercury, and he spent most of his spare time stroking Venus, his wand. The most entertaining part of the lesson, however, was when Arthur noticed a group of stars shaped like a pair of bum cheeks.

Their next lesson was Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. Luna and Hagrid, despite teaching the same subject, had very different styles of teaching. Last year, Luna had taught them mostly about fairies and pixies, Hagrid taught about giant slugs and crabs; Luna was always bright eyed and crazy, Hagrid was funny and clumsy. In that lesson, Albus decided to spend some time with Esther, to make sure she wasn't feeling left out. Giant worms, was the topic of the lesson, which wasn't very interesting; Hagrid had the class worm charming, which involved tapping and jumping on the group while covering the area with water. Half way into the lesson, not a single person had been able to charm a worm, so Albus and Esther chose to make up worm innuendos. There was a lot of laughter.

Binns, as always, was very boring. It didn't matter who Albus sat with for Binns' lessons, either way he would end up face planting the desk and falling to sleep. Even Rose found it incredibly full, even though she knew the answer to every question about the founding of Hogwarts. Everyone in the class agreed that they'd much prefer the new History of Magic teacher, Professor Arnold Ardwald. Poppy particularly like him because he shared the name of her boggart, Arnold, (who had transformed into the shape of Poppy's textbook but had comics inside).

By a mile, the most interesting lesson of the day, (apart from Potions, maybe) was Transfiguration. The rows of desks were long, so Albus got to sit with Arthur, Esther, Poppy, Rose and Seb. In front of them were slugs, stick insects, flies, mosquitoes and moths. Albus had a green slug. McGonagall made it clear that the lesson's objective was to turn animals into water goblets; they were starting with what McGonagall called _simple _animals, because they were small and didn't have many unusual properties. Next lesson they would move onto rats and mice, then rabbits, cats and dogs, then snails (because they have two separate parts), them chameleons and snakes. When asked, McGonagall said that underwater animals were only transfigured in the third year and onwards. By the end of the lesson, Albus, Seb, Esther and Poppy all had well made water goblets. Arthur had managed to turn a moth into a bloody mess and Rose had moved onto turning a cat into a water goblet; it worked well apart from a set of whiskers and a bushy tail.

Dinner was finally upon them. The Great Hall's roof was a deep indigo, clear and full of glittering stars. Candles bobbed in the air over the long tables, filled with platters of food. Albus sat between Rose and Arthur; he was about to dive into a chicken leg when McGonagall got up to address the school. "Good evening, students of Hogwarts! Once again, we find ourselves welcoming a new week and with a new week, as we all now, there are new bulletins from our caretaker, Argus Filch. Filch, please take the stage!"

Filch strode to the front of the hall, dressed in baggy, smelly clothes that were on the brink of falling to pieces and leaving him butt naked. Flanking him was his red eyed cat, Mrs Norris. Once at the front of the hall, he fiddled with his collar, trying to look smart. "Pupils will stay out of the Forbidden Forest. Pupils will talk to adults in an appropriate manner. Pupils will not use magic in the corridors. Pupils will not use magic in an offensive manner. That will be all." Filch strode back out of the hall with Mrs Norris and high chins.

"Thank you, Argus, that was . . . Enlightening. I have no more to say, so continue the feast!" McGonagall concluded.

Esther snatched the chicken leg out of Albus' grasp, just as his teeth were about to sink into its flesh. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You're gonna want to keep up your appetite, just for a moment at least," Esther said as she and Arthur grabbed him by his elbows and pulled him onto his feet.

"What?" Albus panicked.

"Don't worry, Albus. Follow us," Arthur told Albus, leading him out the Great Hall. Albus turned back to grab his chicken leg, but Arthur and Esther had already closed the door to the Great Hall behind them. Trying to relax, Albus followed Esther and Arthur up the ever changing steps of the moving staircases.

"Where are we going? And why? Are we missing dinner?" Albus asked.

"There'll be food when we get there," replied Esther. "And I'm not telling you where we're going!"

Arthur turned around, pulled a blind fold out from one of his pockets and covered Albus' eyes. With he pull, he secured it place, blinding Albus. "Now nothing can tell you where you're going."

"Hold on a minute, you haven't answered one of my questions yet. Why?" Albus remembered, stumbling up what seemed to be stairs.

"Well, us and the others were thinking: as it's your first day back in school and you've been doing so well with your recovery, we thought we'd celebrate." Esther explained.

"So, we organized for the house elves to make some party food, Poppy agreed for her boggart to transform into a stereo and half the year will be arriving any minute . . ." Arthur tore off Albus' blind fold.

"Surprise!" Esther and Arthur cried swinging open the door to the Gryffindor common room. There it was: a dragon! Albus was so shocked to see the bronze scaled creature that he jumped back and nearly tripped down the stairs. It stood in the common room, fifteen metres long with smooth copper scales, a short snout and black ridge marks. Its talons were giant and tore up the carpets, and its wings swiped chairs and lamps over in single sweeps. Bowls were smashed and what seemed to be party food was burnt to a crisp and draped over the floor. Suddenly it turned its head and looked straight at Albus with bulging amber eyes.

"Get down!" Albus cried, pulling Esther to the ground with him as the dragon spat out a bolt of fire over their heads. Arthur tripped on a step of the stairs just in time to fall out the way of the fireball. "What a nice surprise!"

"Why the hell is there a dragon in our common room?!" Arthur screamed as he crawled towards Albus and Esther, who were lying down on the stairs, out the way of the dragon's fiery breath.

"It's not my fault there's a Peruvian Vipertooth in there, is it!" Esther replied.

"Yeah, I really want to know what type of dragon it is!"

"I'll get a teacher," Esther decided, getting up.

"We'll stay here and distract the dragon," Albus announced.

"There's no way you'll be able to distract a dragon without getting incinerated!" Esther screamed, ducking down to avoid another breath of fire. "You'll be killed!"

"If we don't try, the dragon will get loose!"

Esther looked around her: no one to help. "Fine! As soon as I can, I'll be back. If you die, Albus, I'll find you and kill you again." She knelt down so she was face to face with Albus, "Look after yourself." Then she turned and ran back down the stairs, back to the Great Hall.

"What's the plan?" asked Arthur, over the roar of the Peruvian Vipertooth.

"You attract its attention while I sneak behind it around the edge of the room," Albus informed.

"How am I going to distract that monster without dying a very painful death?" Arthur groaned.

"Like this: HEY, OVER HERE!" Albus screamed, jumping up and down. The Peruvian Vipertooth stopped tearing a sofa apart and looked straight at Albus before breathing fire at him. Albus jumped onto the steps just in time to miss the flames.

"I'm not doing that! I'll be killed!"

"Suit yourself," Albus said before crawling on his hands and knees up the steps. "Don't think you'll stop me," Albus told Arthur. Shaking his head in disbelief, Arthur pulled himself to his feet and started screaming. Arthur's distraction gave Albus enough time to run into the common room undetected and him behind the only desk that hadn't yet been torn to pieces. Albus was nearly five metres away from the dragon; its breath both stank as it snorted through its nostrils and heated the room. Arthur had stopped jumping up and down on the stairs, so Albus would have to hope that the dragon wouldn't notice him.

However, hoping wasn't enough. The dragon slammed it's great, scaly foot into the wooden desk, shattering it into sharp fragments! Albus dived out the way just in time for one of its talons to only tear at part of his shoe. He would have to get new ones. Stomping the desk into even smaller pieces gave Albus enough time to crawl, on his back, behind a pile of debris. Pictures, paper, a broken chandelier, bowls half full of jelly sweets and legs of chairs were some of the things that made it up. Albus didn't think the dragon had noticed he was there.

Albus turned to look out the door of the crimson common room to see Arthur creeping towards the room. Frantically, Albus tried to warn Arthur not to get any closer, after all, the dragon was looking restless and on guard. Arthur continued to sneak into the room, he was nearly by the wreckage of the wooden desk when he stepped on a framed portrait. _Smash! _The glass shattered, and at that moment, was as loud as a jet plane. Sharply, the Peruvian Vipertooth whipped its head in Arthur's direction. Arthur was frozen with fear. "Don't make a sound," Albus whispered.

The dragon took a step in Arthur's direction. It went face to face with Arthur, inspecting him very, very closely with beady amber eyes. Arthur closed his eyes, locked them shut and forced them into place. His breathes were deep and uneven. Every part of his body was shaking furiously in fear. Sweat dropped in puddles from his forehead. He whispered, very quietly, "Please don't let me die . . ." The dragon breathed in Arthur's face, rustling his hair and causing him to release a whimper. Its eyes remained fixed as it slowly moved away, ever so slightly, then it took a deep breath in . . . Albus knew exactly what it was about to do.

Albus leapt through the air towards Arthur. They two boys collided and were knocked onto the crimson carpeted floor avoiding a ball of fire. The ball of fire erupted on the wall, burning away the wallpaper and drowning the air in a thick black smoke. Already the flames were spreading, setting fire to bookshelves and paintings. Albus grabbed a relatively intact portrait of Godric Gryffindor and used it as a shield over himself and Arthur as the dragon roared fire at them. The burning heat of its breath singed Albus' fingers, but he managed to hold on to the painting.

As soon as the dragon's breath of fire came to a halt, Albus was on his feet, pulling Arthur with him. Albus ran straight at the dragon, enduring its stinking breath, with Arthur leaning on him slightly. Once again, the dragon prepared to spit out a breath of fire. "Down!" Albus screamed, diving to the floor with Arthur and sliding under the belly of the beast, avoiding the snarling fangs as it tried to rip off their heads.

"Follow me!" Arthur cried as they crawled back onto their feet at the other end of the dragon. Following Arthur, Albus grabbed hold of one of the spike on the dragon's back and wrapped his arms around it tight. "Hold on!"

The dragon swung its head around, getting ready to attack Arthur and Albus, and just as Albus thought it would finally succeed in tearing it into twenty pieces, Arthur stabbed its tail sharply with his wand. Albus and Arthur were swung into the air on the dragon's tail as it wailed in agony. Fingers sweaty, Albus continued to cling onto the spike on the dragon's tail as he was hurled up towards the ceiling. Arthur and Albus let go, just as they were about to hit the painted ceiling.

Big mistake. The Peruvian Vipertooth was stood on its hind legs, its head facing straight up and its mouth wide open. All Albus could focus on was the gaping, black hole that was its mouth, and the razor sharp fangs that lined it. "Aaargh!" Arthur and Albus screamed as the fangs and black hole got even closer. Realizing the trouble he was in, Albus pulled his wand out pocket and aimed it straight down the dragon's throat. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The dragon was frozen in place, but even still, Albus and Arthur tumbled down its slippery throat.

"Mr Potter! Mr Shaw!" McGonagall was crying as she strode up the staircase with Esther, Hagrid and Flitwick. "Oh my, good Lord!" She'd obviously noticed the giant Peruvian Vipertooth dragon.

"That is an excellent creature!" Hagrid gasped. "I've always wan'ed a dragon. She's a beau'y!"

"The magic it must have taken to freeze her," Flitwick admired. "Such a charm must have come from a powerful wizard, and a powerful wand."

"Have you forgotten that two children have battled a dragon and are nowhere to be seen! I'd say that they may well have been eaten!" McGonagall complained.

"Al, are you in there? Al, can you hear me?!" Esther cried. "Wait, look!"

McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick and Esther looked at the open mouth of the copper coloured, frozen dragon. One hand reached out of the darkness and grasped a fang. Then another head. Then a head of black hair. Then the face of Albus Potter as he pulled himself of the dragon mouth. With a pull, he crawled out of the beast's mouth and landed on the ashened, scratched carpet and sighed.

"Might I ask what you were doing inside the mouth of a Peruvian Vipertooth's mouth?" McGonagall asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Mmm . . . Stopping it from running loose around the school," Albus sighed.

"And how are you going to do that when you are getting chewed into tiny pieces by its poisonous fangs and being dissolved in its stomach?" She asked again.

"It has poisonous teeth?" asked Albus.

"Well, why else would it be called a Peruvian _Viper_tooth?"

"Where's Arthur?" Esther wondered.

"Yes, where is Mr Shaw?" McGonagall added.

Arthur's head popped up over the top of the dragon's mouth with a jelly ring on his finger. "Hey guys, look what I found!" Arthur at the ring.

McGonagall scowled. "Do you two think this is some sort of a joke?! I had to abandon a plate of custard creams and the last slice of macaroni cheese to come and sort of this chaos. Miss Summers here was the only one of you three to have the common sense not to put yourself at a high risk of incineration. You could have been killed! And what, may I ask, is a fully grown Peruvian Vipertooth doing in your common room? And why are you in your common room at this time in the first place?"

"Professor, me and Arthur were going to give Albus a party for his first day back going well; some other people were going to be coming as well. We opened the door and there it was, the dragon. None of us know why the dragon was there," Esther explained.

McGonagall looked around the wrecked common room and the frozen dragon. She raised an eyebrow and considered what to do.

"If I may say so, these boys must have done very well to stun a fully grown dragon. Surely some house points are in order," Flitwick suggested.

"Hagrid, please send an owl to the Ministry. Make sure it explains that two boys were nearly killed in one of our common rooms, by a dragon which seems to have appeared out of the blue! As for you three," McGonagall said, scanning the three of them, "Miss Summers, I believe forty house points are in order for common sense. Mr Potter and Mr Shaw, thirty points, each, for bravery. And sheer luck!"

McGonagall left with Hagrid and Flitwick. Hagrid gave them a thumbs up from behind his back.

"Did you like our surprise?" Arthur laughed.

_Thank you for reading! Please review and offer any suggestions or comments, and the reason there was a dragon in Hogwarts will be explained in more details over the rest of the series. :-) _


	13. The Serpent Woman

_I do not own Harry Potter._

Finally, two days after the fight against the dragon, Arthur and Albus were released from the Hospital Wing, free of scars, burns and any possible lung problems. What was strange, was that Albus' right arm seemed to be impenetrable. That was probably a result of when, in his first year, a mixture of magical medicines had been embedded in his arm after being attacked. Not long after the incident, his arm was showing the same symptoms as well. Albus seemed to be spending so much time in the Hospital Wing that he was sure that he should have his own bed reserved, just in case he ran into any more giant arachnids or fire breathing lizards. School had gone on for over three weeks and Albus had attended a total of one day in lessons.

McGonagall had been sending constant letters to the Ministry, trying to work out why there was a fully grown Peruvian Vipertooth in her school. There were no replies. One letter that was replied to, however, was her letter to Ginny and Harry Potter. Albus' parents had visited him in bed the very next day with news and pumpkin cake. Ted and Victoire had successfully arrived at the Paris University of Magic, where Victoire studied fashion and Ted studied Magical Development, (which consisted of making new spells and linking magic with science). When Albus told them about how McGonagall didn't have a clue how the dragon got there, there was only one way they would ever answer: "You have an invisibility cloak; use it!" Overall, it was nice for Albus to see his parents again, was there weren't many breaks from school. The pumpkin cake was nice. Albus decided to keep it a secret from Arthur.

Sure enough, after another two days of rest, Albus was back to school. Education, as usual, wasn't the main focus of the second year Hogwarts students, what with parties in the near distance, the lingering buzz of the summer atmosphere, not to mention a dragon in the Gryffindor common room. That atmosphere stayed with Albus as he strolled down the corridors of Hogwarts, ready to attend his first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year.

"I can't wait for today's lessons! I was speaking with Amelia earlier at breakfast, and she said that Barney told her that Mike told him that Courtney had said that Ben said that today's lesson was the Cornish Pixie lesson!" Rose informed, full of energy.

Albus poked the side of his head, "Amnesia, remember? Do you think I can really understand that?"

"It's the Cornish Pixie lesson!" Rose cried.

"What do Cornish Pasties have to do with defending ourselves against the dark arts?" Arthur asked. Two sets of eyes turned on him with raised eyebrows.

"Pixies, not pasties," Rose laughed. In embarrassment, Arthur hit himself on the forehead. "Anyway, I've been thinking about that dragon, you know, that one that you nearly got digested by. I was in bed last night, thinking about crime stories, when it came to me. Just like in crime stories there's always one thing that the detective looks for . . ."

"Motive?"

"Opportunity?"

"No, of course not! The detective looks for the entrance. How is a fully grown dragon going to get into the Gryffindor common room without being seen? It could have gotten in through a window, a big one though, and it would probably have to break part of the wall . . . Ok, forget the window; it obviously didn't get in through there. However, someone could have let it in, or, just as an idea to cover all the possibilities: it got in through the fireplace." Rose suggested with a very, _how smart was that? _expression.

"I agreed, getting in the window would be hard. Someone let it in? I doubt that. Why would anyone let it in anyway, nothing's being held secretly in the school? I doubt that McGonagall will make that mistake again. The fireplace could be a possibility. I dunno. Don't fuss over the dragon anyway, McGonagall's been asking the Ministry, and I'm sure she'll be told soon." Albus explained, knowing full well that he would never win a debate against Rose: but he might a well try.

"Ah, but after Amelia told me that Barney told her that Mike told him that Courtney said Ben told her that today's lesson would be the Cornish Pixie one, Amelia told me that me that Barney told her that Matt said to him that Ben said he heard McGonagall tell Hagrid that she'd not had a response from the Ministry yet!"

Arthur and Albus were left with blank expressions. Their eyes faced into the sky and they raised their eyebrows as they tried to make sense of Rose's complex explanation. Did that really make sense?

"Can you say that again?" Arthur said.

"Best not," Albus interjected. "My mind's melting just trying to make sense of the first part," Albus told Rose whilst miming his head exploding.

"Ok then, Albus," Rose began, starting to get frustrated. "Your parents came round not long ago; what did they tell you?"

If Rose's words were to take the form of an assassin, it would have Albus pinned up by a wall, choking him and making him beg for mercy. Albus didn't want to spit out the expected answer, but Rose would have won the debate nevertheless. She always did. "I ought to get my invisibility cloak unpacked."

#####

"You won't believe her," Esther began, pointing to her sister, who was talking with Seb outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts corridor, "She and Seb have been talking nonstop since we bumped into him along one of the corridors. They seem to be getting on _really _well."

"You don't mean, as in, flirting?" Rose asked.

"That's exactly what I mean! I can't believe they're getting on that well, one moment they're really awkward around each other and the next they're on the brink of deciding when to get married, how many kids they want and where to bring up a family!" Esther panicked, attracting the attention of the other people waiting in the line.

"They can't be that close already. It took months for you and Al to get together, and let's face it, everyone knew there was something going on there," Rose argued. Esther and Albus looked around awkwardly, pretending they hadn't heard what Rose had said.

Albus was saved by the door to the Defence Against the Dark Arts room opening with a creak. Unexpectedly, Esther, Rose and Arthur turned to look at Albus, then back at each other, as if they'd forgotten to tell him something . . . Something important.

"Al, don't panic!" Rose told him.

"Whatever you do, don't over react!" Arthur was saying.

"Listen to me, Al, you might remember her, and if you don't, please don't do anything rash!" Esther instructed him.

What? Who were they talking about? Albus was completely confused by what they were saying; none of it made sense. None of it made sense, however, until Albus saw who they were talking about. She was tall, in an emerald dress decorated by intertwining serpents, matching the design of her purple, silk gloves. Her pale, bony face was topped off by a large, purple turban with a snakes head emerging out the front of it, lifeless but still disturbing with its shiny fangs and fierce eyes. The woman's eyes were the same green as her glossy lipids or her high heels, only adding to her height and eerie appearance. Albus knew exactly who this woman was. He'd seen her face on circus advertisements and history books whilst researching the woman responsible for his cousin's death.

"Hello, you must be Mister Potter," she said, stretching out her hand, hoping for it to be shaken, "Professor McGonagall warned me you'd be late, again. I'm Madame Serpentina, nice to meet you!"

Albus glared at her, like an eagle stalking its prey, and refused to shake her gloved hand. "It's you, isn't it . . . You're Madame Serpentina."

Serpentina giggled slightly, "Exactly, I did just say so. I suppose that'll be the amnesia talking."

"You're the Madame Serpentina that worked in a travelling circus. You're the Madame Serpentina that caused my cousin to die. You're the Madame Serpentine that ruined my family!" Albus screamed.

Immediately, Serpentina's happy, delighted face dropped. "I'm sorry, what was that you said?"

"You know exactly what I said! You're the woman that made the Unbreakable Vow with my cousin in return for everlasting magic, causing him to die. I know that you'll say you weren't responsible for his death, that he knew the consequences of his actions or that he was a stupid fool, but he was only young, you should never have spoken to him. Ask a kid if they want a lifetime of outstanding magic and they'll take it! You, and you alone, were responsible for what happened to him!" Albus spat.

"Al, calm down, let her explain," Esther said, tugging his elbow.

"No!" Albus cried. "I've not finished! Because of you, he felt that he was forced to jump of a tower, and if he didn't, he would've died anyway! His death was entirely your fault! He had a whole life ahead of him, and you took that away for three Knuts, two Sickles and a crimson button! How does that feel? Talk! Explain yourself, bitch!" Albus screamed. The entire class gasped.

"Albus, please stop before you get in any more trouble," Esther pleaded, tugging his elbow again.

"Come on, ANSWER ME!" Albus screamed, turning as crimson as the button that Hugo had handed over to Serpentina. He was visibly shaking was anger and his forehead became flooded with sweat.

Madame Serpentina took a deep breath and gestured to Esther that she shouldn't interfere and that the class should lead into the classroom, leaving her alone with Albus. "I understand, Mister Potter, that you are under a lot of pressure and have undergone a lot of trauma of late, however, I do insist that we keep our disagreements and that you do not speak to me, or any other member of staff your that matter, in such an abrupt and explicit fashion. I will forgive you for that. I will, however, not forgive myself for what I have done. Yes, you were right, your cousin's death was entirely my fault; handing such a momentous decision on a boy his age is unforgivable and extremely unwise on my part. The fact that I caused the loss of such a young and ambitious life breaks my heart every day, but I don't expect you to understand. Nothing I say, I understand, can change how you feel about me and my actions, and I do not want you to, because I don't deserve forgiveness. I do, on the other hand, hope that I can prove myself to be a better person." With an unsure smile, Serpentina offered Albus a handshake.

Albus understood exactly what she was saying, and he agreed, thoroughly, what she said about not deserving forgiveness. He certainly wouldn't give her that satisfaction. Nor did he give her the satisfaction of accepting her handshake. Instead, he stared into her dark green, bewitching eyes, just for a moment, and then entered the classroom. She understood his actions.

The classroom was rounded with stained glass windows, flooding the room with multicoloured lights. Faded ancient symbols were painted onto the walls, the twisting staircase led to Madame Serpentina's office, voodoo dolls and snake skeletons hung from the ceiling like the mobile of a disturbed infant. A large, oval blackboard stood at the front of the classroom, paired with a floating piece of chalk. Primed at the back of the classroom was a 19th century style projector. Overall, the room looked more like a gothic, voodoo tent more than a classroom. That was obviously Serpentina's style.

Rose had saved Albus a seat towards the front of the class, on a large circular table with Arthur and Barney. That would be another person Albus would have to try, or pretend, to get along with. Yes, Albus had made up with Barney White at Hugo's funeral, but still wasn't quite over his betrayal in an alliance with Scorpius Malfoy, which resulted in his family life being printed on the front pages of tabloids. Things could be worse, Albus could be sharing a table with the mysterious Ben Applewhite, accompanied with Scorpius Malfoy and his henchmen, Capricorn and Milligan.

Placing his personal torment and angers to a side, Albus threw his bag to the floor and sat in his seat. Serpentina took her place in front of the class, with a mysterious, cage like object covered in purple cloth on a wheeled cabinet. "Settle down class, settle down! Here, we find ourselves in yet another lesson of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Today's lesson teaches important values for any aspiring witch or wizard, values of courage, resourcefulness and quick thinking," Serpentina dictated to the floating chalk. "Yes, young witches and wizards, today's lesson defends you against the devilish works of the infamous, Cornish Pixies!"

Swiftly, Serpentina removed the cloth from the cage, revealing a hoard of pixies. Each pixie was a blue colour, with cute wide eyes and a troublesome smile. They were completely wild: they were giggling and screeching as they rattled their cage and tried their very best to break the bars. Despite being only inches tall, in their group of at least twenty, Albus could sense they would cause instant mayhem.

"The aims for this lesson are simple: you have a whole hour to get the Cornish Pixies back in the cage after I've released them. Any spells you know can be used, but please, try your best not to harm them." The class got out of their seats and prepared themselves. "You may begin . . ."

_Thank you for reading! There'll be more of the Cornish Pixies in the next chapter. :-) _


	14. Pixies

_I do not own Harry Potter._

In a matter of moments, the class was filled with the winged fiends. Albus dived to the floor with Rose, avoiding the initial wave of Cornish Pixies that flew at them like beautiful bullets. The buzz of the wings weren't enough to drown out the screams of the students as they too jumped to the floor to avoid the havoc. Between the chair legs, Albus could see Madame Serpentina dart into her office, to watch the progress through an oval window. No one dared to defend themselves from the pixies, in case they'd fight back. The classroom was ruled by the blue creatures.

The Cornish Pixies were mad. They grabbed books off the shelves and threw them forcefully at the students. Voodoo dolls were frown about the room and poked with pins, globes were kicked through the air like footballs, tables were pushed over.

A mixture of amusement and panic filled Albus as he looked behind to see Arthur being dragged into the air by a hoard of pixies. They managed to hook him onto one of the ribs of the hanging snake skeletons, despite his screaming and kicking. "Let me down! I have rights!" He screamed.

"What do we do?!" Rose cried, dodging a copy of _Magical Me_.

"We have to do something, anything!" Albus screamed back.

"I have a plan," Barney said, over the vicious buzz of the pixie wings. "On my signal, stun the pixies, attack them, do anything!"

"What signal?" Rose asked.

"You won't miss it!" Barney replied.

Albus didn't want to have to follow Barney's instructions, but what choice did he have? Serpentina was obviously going to be keeping a closer eye on Albus than anyone else, and he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of making a fool of himself.

At last, Barney's signal came. Courageously, he stood and aimed his wand at a hanging snake skeleton. "Bombarda!" Bones were raining over the class as the snake skeleton shattered into pieces. Arthur let out a horrendous cry as he was dropped through the air. He landed perfectly in a chair, but rocked forward, colliding his nose with the table. The Cornish Pixies were utterly confused by the blast; many pixies had to dart through the room to avoid being hit by pieces of shattered skull, and the others were frozen with shock.

Albus and Rose were the first to fire spells at the pixies; others followed slowly after. Still frozen with shock, the pixies were easy enough to be hit by their incantations. It seemed almost too easy as one by one the pixies were stunned and dropped to the floor. Within fifteen minutes, the pixies were captured and locked back into their cage.

"Thanks for the help, mate!" Barney said, patting Albus on the back.

"It's alright. That was fun actually, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Barney smiled, locking the last pixie into the cage.

Albus was saved having to go through an uncomfortable conversation with Barney by a congratulatory applause from Madame Serpentina. "Well done, well done!" she said, descending the stairs from her office. "I must say, you are by far the best class I've had doing this activity. I'm quite surprised!"

"Well, there is only one other class," Arthur whispered. Albus couldn't resist laughing.

"Well done, especially, to Mister Barney White, for the use of the _bombarda _incantation. The way you, as a class, handled the pixies was outstandingly brave and talented. Apart from Mister Shaw, perhaps. What I want you to think about now is how you performed? What spells did you use, what tactics worked? Could you have made any improvements? For the next twenty minutes, I want you to evaluate your performance including all my pointers. Aim to write at least a side of parchment, and perhaps draw a picture to help explain your ideas. Off you go!" Serpentina instructed with a wide grin, as her floating chalk scribbled her words over the oval blackboard in large, loopy letters.

Albus flopped into his seat by Rose, taking a fountain pen out of his cloak pocket. "Urg . . . I hate written work, don't you?"

"How can you say that?" gasped Rose. "You can't pass your O. with just practice; theory is essential!"

"Tests aren't everything," argued Albus.

"I totally disagree! You can't hope to get a high end job like Minister of Magic or Headmaster of Hogwarts without any qualifications. At the most, you could be . . . I don't know! A broomstick."

Serpentina interrupted Albus with a sharp _shush! _It was probably for the best; his comeback was likely to be filled with profanities. Several pieces of paper floated into the centre of Albus' table as Albus began his evaluation.

#####

After a presentation about Cornish Pixies, from Madame Serpentina, the class was let out of the lesson. Albus felt terrible after his first lesson: his friends hadn't told him that Serpentina was their teacher, Albus was sat with Barney White, and it turned out that Serpentina might not be so bad after. Something about Serpentina not being so bad especially annoyed Albus; he'd always hoped she'd be ugly and evil, like a proper witch, so that everyone could share his hatred for her. That would make his situation a lot easier.

Esther, Poppy and Seb caught up Albus on the stairs leading up to the History of Magic. Instantly, Albus noticed the oddness of Seb's wheelchair: they were climbing up the stairs, quite literally. The wheels had formed hand like shapes with pushed the wheelchair up and along.

"They're sick, right?" Seb said, noticing Albus' attraction to his wheelchair.

"Oh, sorry for staring, and yes, they are pretty cool," Albus apologized, watching the hands push the wheelchair up the stairs. "I never knew anything like those existed."

"In our world, we have flying cars, buildings built with only wands and books with teeth. I doubt it was too hard to make a wheelchair that can climb up stairs!"

"He's fascinating isn't he!" Poppy gasped. "It's fascinating! The wheelchair, it's fascinating. Not Seb. He's not that fascinating. I meant the wheelchair; the wheelchair's fascinating!" She corrected in a fluster. Esther tried here best to refrain herself from erupting into an explosion of laughter.

"Why did you guys not tell me about Serpentina working here?" Albus asked.

"We thought it'd be for the best. We couldn't even be sure you'd remember her!" Esther responded

"You thought I'd be best for me? She ruined my life of course I'd remember her! And I know what's best for myself, thank you very much!"

"Al, we only meant to help you. If we explained what she did if you hadn't remembered her, then you'd automatically think of her as some sort of evil Satan worshiper that every should hate. Can you honestly say that she, in any way, seemed mean or untrustworthy or as vile as Petteptire?"

"Grew Petteptire was just an anagram of Peter Pettigrew!"

"Answer the question, Al!"

Poppy and Seb were watching the argument intensely, like they solely depended on it like some sort of miraculous juice. Albus swallowed his pride. "Fine then. Yes, she doesn't seem too bad, but that doesn't mean I like her! And as for being trustworthy . . . I think you know what I have to say."

"See what I mean; you already have such a solid image of her that you will refuse to think anything else of her!"

"Alright, maybe I am a bit stubborn! Just, please, get off my case." With that, Albus left Esther and the others and headed to their Transfiguration lesson, ignoring Esther's cries of apology.

#####

"If you shouted at her, why aren't you shouting at us?" Rose asked, swishing her wand and turning a chameleon into a camouflaging water goblet.

"Because she was all full of herself . . ." Albus replied.

" . . . Because she had a point," Rose corrected.

"What do you mean?"

"What she said was true."

"Don't start ganging up on me too!"

"I'm not ganging up against anyone. All I'm saying is that Esther was only trying to protect you, but she probably didn't explain herself best. Give her some slack and don't do anything over the top just because of one petty argument."

Albus gasped, not believing what she'd just said. He took her advice and decided not to over react to what she'd said. Swishing his wand, Albus attempting to turn a pug into a water goblet, ending in a bloody result. "Now look what you made me do to Audrey!"

"Why are you taking advice from girls?" Arthur said. "Follow my advice: tell Esther that she shouldn't have been so critical, make up with her, then break up with her for being mean to you in the first place."

"I'll only take your advice if you can turn that stick insect into a water goblet," Albus replied.

Arthur cleared his throat. He swished his wand and pointing it at the stick insect. Almost immediately, it exploded into a gooey puddle.

"Exactly!" Albus laughed.

"Hey, Al, I have some news for you." Rose said, pulling a blue, Ministry sealed envelope out of her pocket. "It's a letter from the Ministry that McGonagall got; I made a copy whilst she was helping Amelia with her water goblet. In short, the Ministry knows exactly how the dragon got there, but won't tell."

"So it was the Ministry's fault?" Albus asked.

"It doesn't say that exactly, but probably."

"Why can't the Ministry apologise and explain rather than keeping everything a secret?"

"Maybe they have to keep it a secret. Or they were doing something they shouldn't have been. I don't know . . ."

"I suppose. My parents must have been right though."

"Right about what?"

Albus gave Rose a tantalising smile, one full of drama and amusement. "Right about the invisibility cloak."

#####

Charms, History of Magic and Astronomy followed Transfiguration, which in turn was followed by dinner. Albus ate his chicken and mushroom pie with Arthur, avoiding any awkward situations with Esther, and Poppy had sneaked over to the Ravenclaw table to eat with Seb. The pie was followed by an elaborate platter of chocolate covered fruits and ice creams.

"I think I'll go to bed now; today's been a wash out," Albus decided taking his finally bite into a ball of pumpkin and lime sorbet.

"Fine, if you have to leave me with Amelia and Jacob. See you later," said Arthur.

Albus was halfway up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room before he was interrupted by Esther. She'd obviously followed Albus out the hall in a hurry and seemed a little out of breath. "I just wanted to say sorry, about earlier. I was trying to be smart, I didn't want to annoy or offend you."

"That's ok, I understand. You were right anyway, I shouldn't be so judgemental of Serpentina. I still don't like her though."

Esther shrugged were shoulders. "I guess I can't always have things my way."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Albus said, heading up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Esther called.

"To bed. To the common room." Albus replied, stopping in his tracks.

"You can't go into the common room, not after the dragon. All the beds and belongings have been moved to a hall on the Astronomy Department," she expanded.

" . . . And that is where?" Albus asked with a subtle laugh.

Esther smiled and took Albus' hand. "Come on, I'll show you!"

_Thank you for reading! Next chapter, I promise some partying and detective work. Plz place comments :-) _


	15. Pyramids and Revelations

_I do not own Harry Potter._

At last, Friday had arrived. Friday had always been a day that Albus had counted on to keep him going, without it, he would die from exhaustion and boredom. Somehow, it seemed to necessary for people to pay as little attention as possible in class, laugh at least twenty times, have pizza and doughnuts for dinner and party. That Friday, in particular, was a partying day. Amelia and Jacob were holding a first term party; it would be exclusive to the most popular second year students, was being secretly held in the Room of Requirement, and was promised to be the best night of the year.

After guzzling down a final slice of Hawaiian pizza, all Albus could do was count down the minutes until eight o'clock. It wouldn't be as easy as it seemed though. First of all, Arthur was bitter and angry that he had specifically not allowed to the party. Any chance of talking to Seb and he'd be trapped in Poppy's obsessive love web. He couldn't decide whether or not to take Esther to the party as his plus one after their row the day before. Also, Rose seemed desperate to find out about the dragon before half term in weeks. It was like Albus' problems were weights, dragging him down to the bottom of the sea; he was determined not to drown.

"Please Al, come with me to the common room later. I really want to have a look around, even if it's just for five minutes!" Rose begged again.

"I'm sorry, Rose, I'm busy tonight with that party. Talking about the party, should I take Esther?" Albus asked.

"I've just noticed, we both have something the other wants: I need your help and you need my advice. How about we make a deal and help each other?" Rose bargained.

Albus gave in, "Fine. At eight thirty I'll get my invisibility cloak and meet you close to the common room. Now you help me: should I take Esther?"

Rose bit her lip slightly, like she was considering something. It was obvious she had a secret, something she really wanted to tell Albus but knew she couldn't; then, she too gave in. "Me, Esther and Poppy were talking last night, mainly bitching about other girls and talking about boys, that type of stuff. You have no idea how much Esther likes you! She couldn't stop talking about you and how apologetic she was about your argument. Seriously, it's like your the only person she notices in her life, everything else is just noise and colour. Want my advice? Never, never doubt how much you mean to her! Take her to that party and treat her like a proper girlfriend; she deserves that. All I hope is that you feel the same way. You do, don't you?"

"Yes. Yes, of course! Most relationships people have at our age only last a week or two, but ours has been going since July; that's the whole of August, September and a bit more. And do you know what, I hope it lasts even longer! The first time we met was at a party. I didn't know her, but immediately I noticed her, everything about her seemed to glow. Not Poppy, or both because they're identical, Esther. She was always the one . . ."

"Then why are you considering whether or not to take her to a party if she means that much?"

"I guess I just needed some clarification; something to tell me she felt the same way."

Rose smiled and took a hearty bite into a bulging custard doughnut. "I only wish I had someone to feel the same way with . . ."

#####

Seven forty five. Albus was ready for the party; combed hair, a jumper and chinos, brushed teeth and his invisibility cloak hidden awkwardly down his back. Leaving Arthur still scowling, Albus left their temporary room in the Astronomy Department and went to find Esther, not having a clue which one she was in. Luckily, there were only five other rooms for second years, so it wouldn't take him long at all. The first was a boys room with Jacob and Matt; he left the second one quickly when it was answered by Barney. Rooms three and four were full of giggling girls, half of which seemed to be getting ready for the party.

The fifth door, however, was answered by Poppy. "Hey Al," she greeted him, "how y'doing?"

"Great, thanks. I was just wondering, is Esther in?" Albus answered shyly.

"Esther, she'll only be a minute. Wait here while I go and get her!" Poppy skipped out of vision. Her room was rather tidy, apart from the mislaid shoes, brushed and magazines. From a mirror on one of the beds, Albus could see who seemed to be Rose, smiling and handing out advice, presumably to Esther.

At last, Esther arrived at the door. Her appearance was enough to shut down part of Albus' brain and make his heart race like a rollercoaster. She was dressed in a knee length blue dress, with a white flower pinned to it, her curled hair was in arranged in a bun, she wore white converse.

"Over dressed?" She asked, with an unsure smile.

"No, you look great. You put me to shame."

"You don't look too bad yourself," she said, weakly punching him on the arm.

Albus giggled slightly, not sure of what to say next. "Should we get going?"

"Off we go," Esther decided, taking Albus' hand.

"See you later," Poppy called as Albus and Esther headed off, "Tell me everything as soon as you get back!"

"Are you looking forward to the party?" Albus asked as they continued towards the Room of Requirement.

"Of course! Once we get past the show offs and gossiping girls I'm sure we'll have fun. You?"

"Me, I'm just hoping another dragon's decided not come and burn my face off." Esther laughed at Albus' joke.

"Do you still think about that dragon a lot?"

"It did nearly kill me! Yeah, I do think about it a lot. I hope you don't get annoyed with me, but I was kinda hoping I could leave to meet Rose at eight thirty and look around the common room for clues of how the dragon got there; I was gonna go back to the party after."

"Did you really think I was gonna get annoyed at you? It's fine if you wanna go snooping around, in fact, I wouldn't mind coming with you."

"I'd like that."

Finally, the two of then arrived at a long plain corridor, home of the Room of Requirement. Hand in hand, Esther and Albus filled their minds with one thought: _let me into the party_. Their prayers were answered. Gradually, a large black door immersed from the surface of the brick wall in front of them. The door was as black as the bottom of a never ending well and if was covered in intricate engravings and patterns. Albus had been told many times about the room by his parents; how they used to hide things in it, how a group of their friends met in out to train, and how it was burnt down around them. The stories had built Albus up for the experience, but even the miraculous appearance of a door shocked, surprised and intrigued him.

"I think we're here," Albus gasped, pulling open the door and stepping through with Esther.

Everything about the room stunned Albus, from the sparkling spectrum of colour, to the noises that threatened to drown him in sound, to the array of party food on glittering displays, and to the pure surprise of stepping into a new world. Albus was sure he felt the same mixture of emotions as Lucy did, stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia. The room must have held around forty people, all in dresses and best clean clothes, dancing to the loud music. Spiralling purples and reds and blues engulfed the room, surrounding it with vibrance and energy. Various juices in shot glasses formed pyramids around the room, bowls of dips turned around centerpieces of tortilla chips, rich and elaborate cupcakes floated around the room on hovering dishes. The sight was incredible.

"Oh my God, you came!" The bubbly as ever Amelia screamed as she galloped over to Albus and Esther in a Union Jack style dress. "It's so great to see you guys! How are you doing? Have you seen the juice pyramids? Everything's SO amazing! Have you tried the self serving doughnuts; it's like heaven had a hole cut into the middle of it then was deep fried and covered in a sugary glaze! Don't get me wrong, I haven't had any, too many calories, but I got Jacob to try one for me. After all, I am the host and have an obligation to offer food suggestions, but on the other hand it's also my duty to not eat all the fatty things. Leave that to the boys I say! Anyway, make yourself comfortable and enjoy yourself!" She cried, galloping away.

"Has she got any madder?" Albus asked.

"She may just have. I never thought it was possible," Esther answered. "Wanna get a drink?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Albus was hesitant of taking a glass of apple juice from one of the pyramids; they were so tall and delicate Albus was sure the slightest tremor could cause catastrophe. Esther had laughed at his nervousness, but when she grabbed for a glass of pumpkin juice she ended put taking out the first five layers of the pyramid. Glass and juice was all over the floor. But being the Room of Requirement, the room was self cleaned within moments.

Esther and Albus hurried away from the drinks pyramids, getting caught between a group conversation on the way, and went to try some of the elaborate cakes. A plate with a beautifully coloured cupcakes floated between the two of them; Albus took an orange one and Esther took a pink one. Curiously, Esther took a bite of her neon pink, heavily iced cupcake. At first, it was hard to tell her reaction, she just chewed on it and passed it around her mouth; then, she started to giggle and smile.

"Mmm . . . This is delicious!" Esther cried, taking another bite. "It's dead sweet and soft and sugary! It tastes like raspberries. Hold on, strawberries as well. It tastes like raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, but also butterscotch and toffee and fudge. Mmm! This is SO nice! You try yours."

Albus' was bright orange, so bright it was also reflective, reflective enough for Albus to see his face in it. Peeling off the wrapper, Albus took his first bite. The outer layer of icing was crunchy, but tasty nevertheless. As he tasted it more, Albus noticed how soft and light the sponge was, and how sweet and filling the thick icing was. "Mmm! I know what you mean. Mine tastes like . . . Like apples, not normal apples though, the not very appley taste that apple flavoured sweets have. And there's oranges, and mangoes, and banana. It's like a smoothie cupcake!"

Simultaneously, Albus and Esther started giggling even more and laughing out loud. "Popping candy!"

Time ran out quickly as Albus and Esther started dancing. Esther spent most of her time dance-chatting with the girls, Albus spent most time at the side talking with the girls. The only dancing that actually happened was Albus' brief couple of seconds in a dance of against a Hufflepuff girl who had trained at a dance school before going to Hogwarts. At last, half eight had arrived.

"Albus, come on!" Esther begged, pulling Albus away from a slice of pepperoni pizza. "Rose will be waiting for us at . . . Hold on, it's after dark, won't we get caught?"

"Ah!" Albus realized, pulling his invisibility cloak out from behind his back.

"What's that rag?" Esther asked.

"My invisibility cloak."

"You don't have an invisibility cloak!" Albus pulled the cloak over himself and Esther. The material was light and thin, so they could see out with reasonable ease; but others couldn't see in. "You do have an invisibility cloak!" Esther gasped. "Can people see us in this?"

"The whole point is that they can't."

Esther kissed Albus on the cheek. "I hope your right. Come on, let's go!" The two of them ran out the room, under the protection of the cloak. Cheekily, Albus gave Jacob a shove on the way out.

#####

Albus and Esther arrived at the common room in a matter of minutes, where Rose was patiently waiting, rested against the stair bannister. "Hi, we're sorry if we're a bit late," Albus said.

Rose jumped in a fright, clasping her hands firmly over her mouth to stop herself from attracting any attention. Frantically, she looked around. To be honest, Albus was surprised that she hadn't noticed him. She continued to look around, avoiding Albus and Esther. "Over here!" Albus called.

"Albus? Is that you?" Then the penny dropped. "Oh, right, you're in your cloak. Let me in!" Rose said, as she ran at Albus, not exact on where he was, but nevertheless, managing to duck under the cloak and pop up between Albus and Esther. "Hey, you two. How was the party? In fact, save it for later, priorities and all that."

"Come on then, let's have a look around," Esther beamed, pulling the others towards the common room. The common room door was smothered with warning and danger signs, the door was singed and there was a heavy odour of smoke. It seemed as if the room had been untouched for quite some time. "Alohomora!" With a click, the door creaked open.

The three of them entered the common room, still huddled together under the cloak. Esther locked the door behind them. In nearly every detail, the common room was exactly how Albus and Arthur had left it when they were sent to the Hospital Wing, with exception of the crimson, unburned area where the dragon had been. The sofas, chairs, books and frames were smashed into pieces and spread throughout the room. Complete areas of wall and floor were black with ash and soot. The room was inhospitable, every inch of floor was a hazard due to shards of glass and giant splinters. A pungent odour of smoke still filled the room and the air was still grey with unsettled dish and ash.

"It's going to take forever to find anything in here," Albus sighed, "Everything's either burned or buried under what used to be our home."

"Then forever we will take." Rose declared, "You know what I'm like, I have the Hermione Granger gene. I never give in to my curiosity that quickly."

"We should probably split up: I'll go and check out the bedrooms, you two should stay here," Esther decided, heading towards the bedrooms.

"You go to the left side, I'll go right," Albus said, taking off the cloak and hiding it up his jumper.

As Rose searched the left side, Albus went to the right. Fragments of glass and wood crunched under Albus' feet; he had to take care not to get cut. Among the gold, brown and red, nothing peculiar stood out; all he could find were broken paintings and shattered sofas. The air was still drowned in thick smoke, making it even harder to find anything peculiar. Albus rummaged through a pile of books and broken chandelier pieces. The ash rubbed in his fingertips, spreading black marks over him, and the thick novels scratched at his hands.

_Cling clang! _A metal object slipped through Albus' hands and skittled over the floor. Albus picked it up to examine it. It was a round shape, and hollow, with a slit and hole in it. It was a pair of hand cuffs, a pair for animals. Whatsmore, Albus could feel a small engravement on the side of it. Rose stopped searching under sofa cushions and crowded around Albus as he cleared the soot and ash off the engravement. The engravement was of a large M. An M that Albus had seen many times. The M that was the logo for the Ministry of Magic.

"What this mean?" Albus gasped.

"It means that the Peruvian Vipertooth came from the Ministry . . ."

_Thank you for reading! As I'm half way through the story, I thought I'd take some time to mention and thank PenMagic. The amazing betareader for this and the previous story who was provided many plot ideas and suggestions. Please continue to read the series as there will be a lot more drama and plot twists :-) _


	16. A Long Winter

_I do not own Harry Potter._

It seemed like no time before November arrived. The weather had turned considerably colder, the trees seemed far more solemn, and the constant rain and need for coats and hats was definitely an introduction to the Winter months ahead. Some things had stayed the same though; Albus and Esther's relationship had stayed solid, Poppy and Seb were rapidly falling head over heels, and the gossip about the Peruvian Vipertooth were still muttered in hushed tones. Rose, like usual, had been heading to the library every time an idea that linked the Ministry to the puzzle popped into her head. Rose, Esther and Albus had concluded, after their findings, that the Ministry was no doubt involved. Only one mystery remained: how?

The first week of November was a tough one for Albus; after weeks of skipped school he was finally realising how far he'd slipped behind. Even Arthur was better than him in Potions! Esther managed to pick his spirits up anything, the second week was worse:

"An' how regularly have you been feeding 'er?" Hagrid asked, peering under the owl's wing.

"Twice everyday," Albus lied. "More likely once a day . . . Maybe four days a week . . . No that we look at the situation in more detail, around the region of twice a week would be more likely . . ."

Hagrid sighed, placing Brownbeak in her cage. Causing his hut to shake, Hagrid walked across the room and unhooked a hanging dog bowl from the ceiling. "'Ere you go!" He said, thrusting the bowl into Albus' hands. "Look after Brownbeak, I'd 'ate to see another animal die; not after . . ." Hagrid was interrupted by a large sneeze.

Albus turned the dog bowl in his hands and read the word, Fang, engraved into the side off it. "Thank you, Hagrid!" Albus said, looking up. "I just presumed she'd feed herself, what with all the rats around the place. I promise I'll feed her more often!" Taking Brownbeak, Albus shook hands with Hagrid and left his hut, only turning back briefly to say: "And I'm sorry, you know, about Fang . . ."

Over week three of November, Albus did as he promised and treated his owl with more respect. It hadn't taken long, but he came to realise how beautiful Brownbeak really was, from the colours of her wings to the way she humbly perched in the sunlight like supermodel. He even spent the whole of his Thursday evening hunting for rats with Arthur: they caught six in the end.

Lessons went as usual. As usual, Potions ended with Arthur burning his eyebrows off and Albus wishing he was only half as good as Seb (who always had a perfect result with twenty minutes left). Redgrave had been as mad as usual in Astronomy but had moved onto writing lyrics in the lessons about each constellation. Albus, however, did like the look of his Jupiter glasses! Luna was as crazy as ever and tried to persuade Albus' class into believing that half of all the twigs in the world were actually the tanks of tiny land nymphs. In Transfiguration, McGonagall handed each class member a piece of parchment which explained how they did in the water goblet work. Rose had gained an O; Albus settled with an A; Arthur was reasonably happy with his D.

#####

Albus ticked 25th of November off his calender. The Gryffindor common roomhad been restored its original state, with updated portraits and furniture, so the house members were allowed back in. Looking out the window of the dormitory, Albus could see rain falling lightly with an occasional hail stone. Already he was getting tired of school; the long hours, constant homework and boring teachers had finally got to him. Esther was the main reason for him to stay sane, but she had left school for the weekend to attend her great-aunts funeral in Barry. Friends would have to do.

_Thud! _The dormitory door was slammed open, knocking the clothes out of Jacob's suitcase. Albus turned room to see Arthur running around the room, stripping down to his underpants in a hurry whilst hoping on one foot.

"What the hell are you doing?" Albus asked.

"I was talking with Jacob and Matt just then," he replied, biting his shoe off, "And they said that Hagrid said it was gonna snow soon. Hagrid's obviously right, he's been living in a hut for ages so probably knows a thing or two about the weather." Arthur explain, pulling his other shoe off with a fire poker.

"That didn't really answer the question," Albus said.

"If it's gonna snow, I wanna be ready! Coats, gloves, thermal layers, wellies, anything!" Arthur said, hanging his top on the side of his bed.

"Alright, just put some clothes on quickly," Albus pleaded.

"Why? Is it making you uncomfortable to have to see my masculine, muscled and well tone body?" Arthur laughed, belly dancing in the middle of the room with only a pair of lime green socks and stripy boxers on. Albus wanted to be sick.

"Yes, actually, just a bit! Are you aware of what masculine actually means because what I'm seeing seems more feminine?" Albus joked, throwing a brown beanie at Arthur. "Put that and some other stuff, then get out of here."

After Arthur left, Albus sat on his bed for two hours, finishing homework and looking out the window. It didn't snow.

#####

It seemed like the wait from September to December had taken a lifetime. Albus was exhausted from the Acromantula, annoyed by the arrival of Professor Serpentina, depressed from having to look after Brownbeak 24/7 and tired of constant homework. Everyday, Albus drew a Christmasy picture on his calender as he counted down to a well deserved break. But, with his bad look, even Christmas had its way of stealing his soul. Teachers were adding more to an already mountainous pile of homework to prepare for end of topic tests, and Esther was insisting that they get each other presents to celebrate their first Christmas as an item. Albus didn't get the fuss; when he asked Rose about it, she said that girls did.

_Whack! _Albus landed face first on the muddy ground in the courtyard. The skies were grey and cloudy, occasional raindrops fell from the clouds. It was a Friday afternoon and Albus was on his way to the Gryffindor common room when a large force had knocked him into the mud, covering in the brown sticky stuff. Albus pulled himself off the ground, unbalanced from the tumble and all the books he was carrying. As Albus turned around he saw the smirking, confident grin of Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius was in his usual Slytherin uniform, flanked by Capricorn and Milligan who were carry large black umbrellas.

Albus sighed and turned to leave them, he couldn't be doing with a fight on a Friday. Capricorn grabbed Albus' collar and forced him face-to-face with Scorpius before Albus had barely made in a step. Forcefully, Scorpius punched Albus in the stomach.

Gasping, Albus clenched in pain. "Just leave me alone, I don't want a problem."

Scorpius giggled slightly, "I haven't had a chance to say hello yet; it's nice to finally meet you since last year. Did you enjoy your time on the front page? To be honest, ruining your life with Barney was great fun, and I don't want to tell too much, but I've been hoping I'd be able to do something like they again this year. In a way, I'm glad your friends with Barney again, for two reasons. One, he was starting to annoy me, not like Capricorn and Milligan here: they're nice aren't they? Two, it makes things even more fun if I can sabotage people by manipulating people close to them."

Albus stumbled away from Scorpius. Capricorn didn't come after him this time. "Leave me alone. I've never done anything to you!"

"I know, but our family is one to hold grudges. I'd watch your back if I were you, Potter. Next time, I want be so subtle in my plans. I could just appear around the corner and mug you, much like today. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Potter."

Now running, Albus left Scorpius and headed straight for the common room.

#####

The End-of-Term feeling hit Hogwarts hard in the second week of December. Filch, as usual, had decorated the hall and corridors with large Christmas trees, covered in silver baubles, golden tinsel, red candy canes and large stars. The floating candles in the hall were red and the roof was constantly displaying showers of snow, whatever the weather. Redgrave had even delved into wearing Christmas star glasses. First years ran through the corridors, refusing to play outside because of the cold, and the courtyard had been banned on several occasions for bad weather.

Albus and Esther drank their chicken soup in the corridors from paper cups; outside was too cold and the Great Hall was unnaturally freezing. Despite wearing gloves, a jumper and a woolly hat, Albus continued to shiver. Large white clouds floated out his mouth when he breathed out and, somehow, the corridors seemed to be tinted blue.

"Yep, it's definitely winter!" Esther laughed.

"I know, right! It's cold and I'm shivering like a pig being electrocuted, but I can't help but think how beautiful it is," Albus said, "I would get it if you think I'm strange for saying that."

"No, I don't think it's strange that you'd say that. I agree, I think. The way everything glitters in the light; how everything is tinted blue; watching how icicles reflect the light. Even the soupy steam looks great. It really is beautiful!" Esther gasped.

"Not as beautiful as you," Albus said.

Esther smiled slightly. "You've said I looked good, but never that I'm beautiful . . . Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?" She and Albus giggled, nearly spilling their soup.

"How much longer do we have before lessons?" Esther asked as they lead outside in the direction of Hagrid's hut, not for a specific reason, just to waste time.

"I dunno; twenty minutes I'd say," Albus replied. "Do you just wanna hang around for a bit then?"

"There's nothing better to do. Corridors get very boring very quickly!" The two walked along a stone path running down a grassy slope. Underfoot, the ground was dewey and on the brink of freezing over. "Hey, take a look at this: tarantallegra!" Esther chanted, pointing her wand at a nearby caterpillar. The large emerald caterpillar stood up on its back and began to jive uncontrollably.

Albus burst out laughing, "Wow! Now THAT is why I love magic!" Even faster now, the emerald caterpillar continued to dance.

"I tried it on Poppy's boggart yesterday; it was hilarious! I think it was really enjoying it 'cos it turned into a miniature ballerina."

That only made Albus laugh more.

#####

At last, the final week of school had arrived. Flitwick had charmed an army of mince pies to march around the corridors, free to be eaten. Somehow, Christmas had wriggled it's way into every lesson, either Longbottom's plants were wearing baubles or pupils were riding reindeer in a one-off Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Esther seemed happy with Albus gift of a fluffy purple dragon toy; Albus liked his hamper of sweets from Honeydukes.

On the last day of the term, Albus packed his suitcase on his bed, ready to return home for Christmas. Somehow, the contents of his bag seemed to have grown so he had to sit on the top of it whilst zipping it up. In went clothes, equipment, presents, everything. Arthur walked into the room with fists full of mince pies, eating then like a horse.

"Hullo!" Arthur grumbled. "Bees dar debishish!

"It'd make more sense if you didn't speak with your mouth open," Albus said, poking a couple of worms through the bars of Brownbeak's cage.

"Ben I buddn't be able do eat deez!" Arthur argued. "Bot are you up oo anybay? Ip's the last bay of derm, you should be aving fun!"

"The Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow lunch, I want to be ready," he explained, preparing a set of clothes for the next day. "What are you doing today?"

"Partying! Bince bies, habbing a laugh: fun stuff!"

"Suit yourself!"

At that moment, the dormitory door swung open to reveal James. "Hi you two! Just to say, the sixth years are organising a party in the common room for seven o'clock. Wear something Christmasy and CLEAN; I know what you second years are like. Oh, and Albus, our parents have sent us some treats for the way back on the train, so don't go buying stuff. You should we what they sent: mince pies, cinnamon buns, Christmas tree biscuits and I even saw some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Candy Canes." James smiled and left the room, only turning back to say, "I'd clean up if I were you. It stinks more that Moaning Mertle's U-bent!"

Just as James left, Rose entered. "Hey, how you doing? Man, your gonna get fat," gasped Rose, noticing Arthur's mince pies. "I guess well be spending Christmas together."

"Yeah," confirmed Albus.

"Good, I've got some plans for us." Rose said with a smile.

"What sort out plans?"

"Your dad's going to the Ministry of Magic on Boxing Day for work; I recon we tag along and find out more about the dragon . . ."

"Yeah, like we'll just be let in!"

"We can tell your dad it's for school research."

"I'm not like the sound of your plan."

"Fine then. Keep the date open though . . ." With that, Rose left the room.

#####

The next day, Albus was aboard the Hogwarts Express, on his was home for Christmas. Comfortably, he had his feet rested across Arthur's lap and sucked on a blueberry candy cane. The sound of turning wheels was drowned out with Christmas carols, echoing through the train carriages. Albus was certainly looking forward to his Christmas.

_As usual, thank you for reading, it means a lot! As it's the second half of the story, prepare for a lot more twists in the plot and intriguing storylines. Please comment, and if you want, subscribe! Thanks :-) _


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